Soul Mark
by Animebandmusic
Summary: Lucy Heartfilia, a shy, hidden high school girl. Living in a world where if you find your soulmate, the color of their hair appears inside of an outlined emblem on their body. Well what happens when this young girl gets hers colored in pink at a busy mall? And what about the fact that she doesn't believe in love or soul mates so she dyed her hair brown?Rating may change! More pairs
1. Chapter 1

"Can't you see I'm not going to hurt you? I love you!" She sat up with a jolt her eyes wide and her breathing labored as sweat dripped down her back at a slow crawl. Her light brown hair fell down in front of her face as she hung her head trying to figure out what had happened in her dream that had her acting this way. "Lucy come on! We're gonna be late for school!" her roommate called. Lucy sighed and swung her feet off her bed wincing as the cold wood touched her bare soles. She sat there struggling to gain any memory of her dream when a head of blue hair popped through her now open door. "Lucy Heartfilia if you don't get dressed this second…" Lucy looked at Levy as she continued to scold her, her hands clenched as she stood and glanced down at the outline of the fairy with a tail on her right hand.

Everyone in the world had a mark like hers, some had them visible to the world like on their hand or arm, others had them places you couldn't see unless they showed them off like on the chest, back or thighs. Depending on where in the world a person lived determined the marks shape, for Magnolia it was the fairy though. This symbol was there when a person was born, it was a link to a person's soulmate. When you come into close proximity of your soulmate your 'Soul Mark', as people called it, became filled in with the color of your soulmates natural hair color. No one really understands why or how it happens, it just does. Although most people don't find their soulmates till they're in their 20's but there have been some rare cases of people finding them while in high school. "Lu, have you been listening to a thing I've said? You haven't moved" Levy complained snapping the brunette out of her trance. "Huh? Oh, sorry Levy, I'm getting up now I promise!" Lucy said with determination, wiping away the fleeting thoughts of her strange dream while she got dressed in her usual baggy sweater that covered her hands and jeans that fit just right from being worn so often. As she turned to head out she ran a brush through her hair and through part of her hair up in her usual side ponytail before slipping on some socks and sneakers and heading out into the living room with Levy just ahead of her. They both grabbed their backpacks and headed out the door calling a quick farewell to Levy's parents as the door shut with a click.

Levy parked her blue Ford Falcon station wagon in the back of the parking lot and the girls rushed through the maze of cars to their history class together, landing in their seats just as the tardy bell rung. Lucy sighed ignoring her teacher, Gildarts Clive, as he walked in and reached into her bag, grabbing her history book and her favorite reading book. She placed her books to make it look as if she were following along and began to read her book with her hair covering her face and her sleeves pulled over her Soul Mark, resting her hands on her lap. She was just getting to a good part in her book, where the main character was promising to win a gold medal in his next big figure skating tournament to his beloved coach when the bell rang, snapping Lucy out of her lovely gay book. She huffed and shut her books putting them in her bag as she silently stood and called a goodbye to Levy as they parted ways in the hallway. Lucy always hated maneuvering through the crowded hallways of Fairy Tail High and she always kept her head down. It was easier that way, no confrontations, no people looking down their noses at her, she could be almost invisible this way. Almost.

The rest of the day went the same way, Lucy kept her nose stuffed in her book while she pretended to be paying attention to her classes. By lunch she had gotten through almost all her book and looked closely related to a fangirl possessed from the levels of love from her two gay figure skater characters in her book. She had sat with Levy during lunch in the library and had talked about going to the mall after school to do some book shopping. Books were what made them such close friends in the first place, they had met in the library one day during their freshman year reaching to grab the same book. It turned out that both had read it numerous times before and had wanted to read it yet again. And so, the love of books drew them closer until Lucy finally told Levy that she had been living at a hotel for the past month since the start of school and Levy asked her to come live with her. From there on their friendship grew until they were the best of friends. Lucy smiled as she sat in the car turning her chocolate brown eyes to her blunette best friend in the driver's seat. She tilted her head back against her headrest and thought hard about her life 'if it weren't for Levy I would be out on the streets by now broke and tired'. She opened her eyes and looked at the mall as her friend pulled into one of the empty parking spots. As they walked through the mall Lucy couldn't help resorting back to looking at the floor. With Levy's arm linked though Lucy's she could let her mind wander as she was drug to the book store while her friend told her about the newest book she wanted to get. After spending hours in the book store the girls had wandered around the gigantic mall until they were exhausted and hungry and had to stop at the food court to grab dinner. The two young girls were just about to head out when a rush of people came through the mall's food court making the girls eyes widen with shock. Suddenly a tingling sensation began through Lucy's right arm and she looked down moving her sweater to the side with a huge gasp that Levy could hear even with all the people in the court. "What's wrong Lu-" Levy stopped and gaped down at her best friends small hand as slowly a pink tint began to creep through the emblem filling until the entire inside was a soft pink color. Levy recovered quickly and stood, pushing her chair back with a loud clatter, making people nearby turn to look at her in shock as she scanned the large crowd for any tufts of pink hair. Lucy, however sat shaking nervously, her eyes wide as she stared at her now filled Soul Mark. 'No, this can't be… it's not supposed to happen to me. Not someone like me. Not someone who doesn't believe in love. It just can't.'

**UPDATED**

Disclaimer I do not own Fairy Tail or anything apart of it. I hope you enjoy, sorry it's not very long. Please leave a review as this is my first story and fanfic I have ever written! Thanks!

~Animebandmusic


	2. Chapter 2

"Lucy, damn it! Listen to me! I love you!" The shout was echoing and fading as she sat up in bed and glanced down running her delicate fingers over the now pink mark on her hand. She still couldn't believe it.

After the initial shock of seeing the Soul Marks color appear Levy had grabbed her left hand and dragged her around the entire mall searching for anyone with pink hair all while talking animatedly about the fact that her best friend had found her soulmate. All Lucy could think though was 'I wonder if the person is just like Levy, searching the crowd for a blonde, young, pretty girl.' Hours went by and the two young girls finally gave up, or more like Levy finally gave up, when the mall announced it would be closing within the hour. As the two of them went home Levy couldn't stop discussing how exciting it was, but Lucy could only stare silently down at her now covered hand with fear, shame, and sadness.

"Lu! You up yet?" shouted Levy from her room next door as Lucy got out of bed. She made sure to knock on the wall to let her know she was up so there wasn't a repeat scolding like yesterday and got dressed quickly in another pair of worn jeans and a blue sweater that was a few sizes too large. She did her hair up the same and then fingered the strands of brown between her fingers while looking in the mirror. She had done it on purpose of course, she figured if she actually did have a soulmate then she could dye her hair and they would never know, never fall in love, and never hurt her. They'd end up finding someone else who had never found their soulmate, or who had lost them. It happened. Not a lot but there had been stories of people falling in love with someone who wasn't their soulmate. The only problem was, once you found them and saw them for the first time it would be nearly impossible to forget them, which was why Lucy didn't want to see hers. Ever.

The two girls had made it to school with time to spare that day and Levy was excitedly telling her two friends Juvia and Erza about Lucy's Soul Mark while Lucy sat tucked away in an empty part of the library to read. When the bell finally rang to signal first period Lucy was almost finished with her book and extremely excited to see what would happen to the two figure skaters. She headed to class keeping her head down low, but something made her stop and look up, something she almost never did unless Levy called out to her. People were staring at her, whispering and pointing as she walked through the hall. She wiped self-consciously at her face and then remembered her Soul Mark, quickly looking down to see that it was still covered up. "Lucy!" cried Levy as she ran up and hugged the brunette, "I'm so sorry. I got carried away and accidentally told too many people. I didn't tell anyone what color it was though." Lucy stared at her friend in shock and tried to think of how to deflate the situation, but nothing was coming to mind. She sighed and gave Levy a weak smile and just shrugged, "It's alright Levy, as long as no one knows what color it is then it's alright. I'll just have to get some makeup to cover it up after school." Levy, knowing her best friend gave her a doubtful look but decided to go along with it, smiled back, leading her friend into history class.

As they took their seats, Professor Clive walked in and Lucy began her usual routine of getting out her books and ignoring the teacher. She was just about to tune everything out when the teacher spoke, catching her attention for the first time that year. "Good morning class, it appears we have a new student today. This is Natsu Dragneel. He transferred from Magnolia High, please be kind and if he needs anything do help him out ok?" Professor Clive's deep voice boomed through the classroom and the teens all nodded their heads disinterestedly. Or at least until the new student walked in. Girls gasped, guys glared and crossed their arms and the students went silent as a gorgeous tall guy with spiky pink hair walked into the room. Wait, PINK?! Lucy shot up out of her chair quickly, making the legs squeak and looked panicked. "Ms. Heartfilia, is there something you'd like to say to the class and Mr. Dragneel?" asked a shocked Professor Clive, he had honestly forgotten about the young girl as she always sat in the back with her nose in her book. He had just figured she was always studying hard and enjoyed his class.

Her sudden outburst caused 30 sets of eyes to stare at her. Some in disgust, others in shock, and a few laughing at her. She suddenly felt like she was going to be sick. With a lurching feeling deep in her stomach she looked down to make sure her Soul Mark was covered by her sweater sleeve, grabbed her backpack and books and fled the classroom, only slightly hearing shouts from Levy, the teacher, and one deep male voice that sounded strangely familiar.

Lucy sat huddled in the deepest furthest corner of the library, a place where not even the librarian checked often, which had caused it to become Lucy's haven that only Levy knew of. Her mind went back to her outburst in class as she fought with the thoughts raging inside her mind. 'It's just a coincidence, right? It's got to be I mean there has to be more than one guy in Magnolia with strange pink hair, right?' The last thought wasn't a very confident one and she sighed pulling her legs up to her chest.

The bell tinged loudly, echoing around the school as the hall began to fill with students making their way to their next class. Lucy, after warring with herself between finishing classes and going home, decided she would finish off the day since Levy was her ride home and there was no way she would ditch school. The pink haired boy wasn't in her next two classes thank goodness, and at lunch she tucked herself back into the library after explaining to Levy that she wasn't feeling well and was going to sit in the nurse's office. She didn't like lying to Levy but the look in her best friend eyes told her that her biggest fear, was probably correct, and Lucy didn't know how to deal with that yet. After lunch she had another class with the pink haired guy who had apparently become instantly popular with not only the ladies but all the guys at the school as well. Seeing him in her English class, her absolute favorite class made her stomach clench and she got a note excusing her to go to the nurse's office for the period.

When school got out Levy was nowhere to be found. She usually waited by Lucy's locker and the two of them would walk to the car together but today Lucy found her locker deserted and walked to the car alone. She sat against the hood reading her book quietly while she waited for Levy. It wasn't the first time her friend hadn't shown up, she was probably busy helping the librarian or one of the teachers. 'No big deal' thought Lucy as she started to lose herself in the book. Suddenly her concentration was snapped back to reality when she heard voices. Her head swiveled left and right trying to place where it was coming from. There were still a lot of cars there from all the people that did afterschool clubs and sports, so it was probably just a couple heading home. "Natsu, why don't you come over to my place after your try out?" A sultry voice said and ended it with a small giggle. Lucy knew that voice, it was Lissana, head cheerleader and the most popular girl in school. Finally, the two that she had heard earlier appeared from behind one of the larger trucks and she noticed the person Lisanna was with. Her eyes widened, and she looked desperately around the parking lot for somewhere she could go but it was too late. The boy whose hair matched her Mark had spotted her. Ignoring Lisanna's question he looked Lucy's way and smiled swaggering over to her with a wide grin that made all his teeth show but on him he made it look more adorable rather than creepy. "Hey, you're that girl in my history class, right? The one who ran out today? Damn! You've got guts girl, I'm new here and even I know not to run out of Gildarts class without permission." The grin returned to his strikingly handsome face and Lucy couldn't help but gape at him as she took in his deep onyx eyes. It wasn't till the guy's head tilted that she realized he was waiting for an answer. Blinking slowly, she looked over to see Lisanna glaring daggers at her behind the boy's back. It was like she had staked a claim on the poor unknowing guy. Before Lucy could respond, not like she was going to, Lisanna spoke up, "Natsu baby, don't waste your time with this one, she's already been _marked_." She said the last words as if it was the most disgusting thing she'd ever had come out of her mouth and Lucy looked confused. And then she remembered what Levy's parents had told them when they first learned the true meaning of the mark. "Girls there will be others who want more than one person, they'll want more than just their marked. Or they'll want to influence as many people as they possibly can before they become marked. Be careful and stay away from them. They will still go after the marked as well." Lucy recalled not really paying attention to the whole thing because she knew even at the age of 12 she wouldn't ever find her soulmate. There wasn't anyone out there for her.

A loud clap brought her back to the present and she focused blinking quickly to find those onyx eyes mere inches from her face. "You ok?" asked the concerned eyes that almost seemed to stare deep into her soul. Lucy could only nod mutely as Natsu backed away, satisfied with her answer. "Marked huh? Sweet! I got mine yesterday check it out!" Natsu turned sideways and lifted up his sleeve showing the two girls an exact replica of Lucy and Lisanna's mark on his shoulder. Lisanna put her hand subconsciously down to her thigh right below where her cheerleader miniskirt stopped and smiled sweetly at Natsu. "How cute! She's a blonde!" The sneer in the young girl's voice was palpable and made Natsu look over at her but then he focused his attention back to the pretty brunette in front of him, however, she had yet to move or speak and continued to stare wide eyed at Natsu as if he had four heads and 1,000 eyes. It made him uncomfortable, and that was hard to do, so he leaned in slowly till his lips were mere centimeters from her ear and he could smell a strong scent of strawberries and vanilla. "Like what you see?" He whispered softly noticing that the girl still had yet to move, and he seemed more affected by the proximity than she did. He almost leaned in to brush his lips along her neck, something he'd never even thought of doing to a random stranger before, a marked one no less, when a stinging sensation filled the side of his face and pain and force caused him to rear back. The brunette was standing there, eyes filled with anger and her fists clenched in front of her. 'Did she just hit me?' thought Natsu incredulously, holding his cheek and testing his jaw while Lisanna ran to his side, kneeling next to him. "Damn, she's got a good arm for such a tiny little thing' Natsu couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

Wow! so many people have read this already! I also got my first review so thank you for that! I hope this chapter is a little longer and since the stories still fresh in my mind I'm going to try updating it as much as possible. I always hated reading fics and having them stop randomly and not update for like a month. Let me know if theres anything I need to change or do!

~animebandmusic


	3. Chapter 3

'Did I just hit him!' Lucy's inner voice screamed as she looked down at the pinkette now on the ground of the parking lot. In her defense he had just been sniffing her and getting way too close for comfort, right? Still that wasn't like anything she had ever done before, she wasn't one for violence, or close proximity either, aside from Levy of course.

Lucy glanced down at Lisanna and Natsu to find that Lisanna was glaring hard at her and Natsu was sitting with his hand pressed against his cheek and a smile on his face. "Damn, what are you packing in that tiny little body of yours?" Natsu asked appreciatively as he stood and brushed himself off, looking at the tiny brunette in front of him. Lisanna, however, turned quickly and began screaming at Lucy, something that surprised both her and Natsu.

"What the hell freak! He was just flirting with you! You don't go hitting people because of it! God, I knew you were a weirdo. Always hanging out with that wannabe popular blue haired chick in the library all alone. Come on Natsu let's get out of here."

Natsu and Lucy stood still as Lisanna turned and walked off expecting Natsu to follow her without comment. Lucy had tears beginning to well up in her eyes, angry at Lisanna for saying such hurtful things about her best friend, angry at Natsu for making herself a target in Lisanna's eyes, and angry with herself that she couldn't speak up for herself. She hung her head so that her hair became a curtain from the outside world as Natsu continued to stare at her with wide eyes. "Sorry for hitting you," squeaked out a tiny voice from behind the layers of hair. Thanks to Natsu's extraordinary hearing he picked it up loud and clear and smiled to himself. 'Ah, so that's what her voice sounded like. Why does it sound so familiar though?' He thought about it hard for a minute and looked the young girl over. Surely, he would have recognized her if they'd met before, he'd never forget a face like that. "Don't sweat it," Natsu said with a smile, making the brunette look up at him with a tear streaked, shocked face.

"I shouldn't have gotten so close, after all we're both marked, it was really rude of me to disrespect your space like that." He rubbed the back of his neck and gave an embarrassed grin to the girl.

Lucy tilted her head slightly to the side glancing at the boy in front of her 'Natsu…' she thought 'why does that voice sound so familiar?' As she was thinking Natsu had placed a hand out as if to shake hands and was waiting for her to say something like he'd asked a question. She gave him a quizzical look and he chuckled, "I asked what your name was, I'm Natsu!" she glanced down once more at his hand, ignoring the gesture she looked back up into those bright onyx eyes and said, "Lucy," before turning her head to see Levy running across the parking lot in a huff.

"Sorry Lu! I got held up helping one of the teachers with grading papers" Levy rambled quickly as she gasped for breath. "Don't worry about it," Lucy replied walking towards the passenger door of the car, "let's just go."

Levy caught her breath and finally noticed that Lucy hadn't been alone, the new guy, Natsu was standing right where she had left him with his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide as if he'd seen a ghost. His cheek, Levy noticed was tinged red with what appeared to be a handprint. 'What the heck happened here?' she thought to herself as she followed her best friend and got into the driver's side. Just as both girls closed their doors Natsu seemed to snap out of the trance he was in and stepped forward as if to walk up to Lucy's window, when Lisanna came running back over, grabbing the boy's arm and leading him away with only a glance back in Lucy's direction.

"Care to share?" asked a confused Levy while they sat at a red light on their way home.

"No, not really" replied Lucy as she twiddled her fingers and slowly traced the mark on her hand.

"Did you see his mark? Was it filled in? What color was it? Is it you?" Levy continued to ask questions in a hurried voice, curious to find if Natsu Dragneel, the most popular guy at his old school and now here, basketball star, and rather large flirt, was in fact Lucy's soulmate.

Lucy sighed and shut her eyes, "There's no way it's me Levy, it's just pure coincidence."

"Well, what color was his?" Levy asked, looking over at her best friend at the stoplight. "He has his filled, doesn't he?"

Lucy sighed again and dropped her head into her hands. "Yeah, he has his filled with yellow." She whispered almost incoherently avoiding all eye contact with the blunette.

"Lu! Do you know what this means?!" Levy cried out as she stomped on the gas pedal when the light turned green, causing Lucy to fly back against her seat. Lucy glared at her best friend and rubbed her sore head, "what was that for?" she muttered. "Sorry Lu, but seriously, do you understand what this means! Natsu Dragneel is your soulmate!" Levy cried out, ignoring the brunettes mumbles of pain as they pulled into the driveway.

Lucy sighed and continued to sit in the car, making no move to get out while Levy turned to look at the sad girl next to her. "I know," Lucy said looking down at her lap, "but Natsu doesn't. And he doesn't ever need to." Lucy looked up with a fierce look at Levy that made even Levy's eyes widen in shock. "You have to promise me you will never tell him," said Lucy fiercely, "after all Natsu thinks his soulmate has blonde hair. You're the only other person that knows I dyed my hair brown right before I started going to Fairy Tail High."

Levy huffed slightly and nodded slowly, remembering the day that she had caught Lucy redying her hair in the bathroom and what Lucy had told her after finding out. "Yeah, ok, I won't say a thing, you have my word."

**Author Note**

I've already gotten reviews and so many views and follows so thank you so much! I'm absolutely loving writing this story and am always excited to write the next chapter. Since the whole stories in my head or appearing quickly I'm not going to schedule certain times for when I upload another chapter.

Also, are the chapters long enough or do they need to be longer? I'm trying to space them out so it's not too long and becomes overbearing but I also want it to stop kind of on a cliffhanger or at least leave you wanting to know what happens next. Let me know what you guys think!


	4. Chapter 4

Over the course of the next few days Lucy did everything in her power to avoid Natsu. Trying and succeeding to be invisible in all her years of school was finally coming in handy and she knew when to go down a different hallway or into the nearest bathroom when the sound of laughter and boyish shouts came from down the hallway as she walked down it.

In the two classes she had with the pinkette she could just pretend to be overly focused in her books to look up, even though she always knew exactly where he was, and she could sense when those intense onyx eyes looked back at her. It made her nervous and she never knew whether to confront him about it or just continue to ignore it.

Natsu knew Lucy was ignoring him, and it pissed him off. Sure, he'd made a small mistake by going into her personal space but come on, was it such a big deal to ignore him? He'd seen her go down separate hallways just to avoid walking by him and his friends and it really upset him, he didn't know why but he was really curious about the tiny brunette. He tried more than once to get her attention during the two classes they had together but with no luck she always had her nose buried in her books. With basketball practice right after school he couldn't even wait for her at her locker or by her friend's car. It was REALLY starting to piss him off. And he was going to do something to get her to talk to him, at the very least so he could apologize to her.

!

Lucy hugged her books closer to her chest, keeping her head down as she headed to her locker. She had decided to leave her bag in her locker and get it at lunch, leaving her books in the locker since she didn't have any homework over the weekend. That was one good thing about always being alone, besides Levy of course, she could get all her homework done while she sat in the library or in her room after school.

'Unless Levy decided to drag me out somewhere.' Lucy thought to herself as she walked. Shaking her head, she stopped at her locker, tilting her head to the side as a pair of black converse appeared in her field of vision. 'That's weird, Levy doesn't wear converse, and no one else has a locker near me.' With a sinking feeling she glanced up, looking directly into the pair of dark eyes that haunted her dreams every night since she had first seen them.

"Hiya, Luce!" Natsu said happily, smiling down at the glaring girl.

"Luce?" she asked incredulously, 'did he give me some kind of nickname?' she thought to herself, hardening her glare and brushing past him to get to her locker.

"Yeah! You like it? It's my nickname for ya!" he replied excitedly.

"No, I don't like it. We've barely met, you can't just go around giving people nicknames when you barely know them," comes Lucy's reply as she fiddles with the combination her locker, desperately trying to get it open and leave quickly.

"Aw come on Luc-y! It suits ya!" Natsu says loudly, leaning up against the locker next to hers with a wide toothy grin on his handsome face.

Lucy decided to ignore the remark and yanked her locker open, quickly grabbing her bag and shoving her books inside, slamming the locker shut with a loud bang that echoed down the now deserted hallway. "Shouldn't you be at lunch impressing your entourage right now?" Lucy sneered, turning away from the boy to go to the library.

"Lucy wai-" Natsu grabbed a hold of her right arm, the same arm that held her Soul Mark, and let his hand slide down to her hand. Lucy turned sharply as a buzzing sensation flooded her hand and she glanced down quickly, relaxing a bit in relief when she noticed the sweater still covered her emblem.

The buzzing sensation increased, and she continued to stare at hers and Natsu's hands together. She looked up to see if Natsu could feel it to and saw him staring at his shoulder, mirroring the same look she had on her features probably. She realized then that his emblem must be buzzing to and quickly pulled her hand away, clutching it to her chest protectively.

The movement of Lucy pulling away and the fact that the buzzing had abruptly faded the second Lucy pulled her arm back snapped Natsu out of his shock. He turned his head back to the girl in front of him and saw that she had already turned and began walking away. Natsu cursed under his breath and hurried to catch up with her.

"Did you feel that too?" he inquired, widening his steps and putting his hands behind his head. When there was no reply he looked over at Lucy tilting his head to the side taking in her features.

She was stunning, there was no doubt about that. With her big chocolate eyes that seemed to always show just how she felt and her long brown hair always hanging in her face and part of it up in a side ponytail. It baffled Natsu that no one knew much about her other than her best friend was Levy, and they lived together, and the fact that she always was reading a book or in the library.

After the incident in the parking lot he couldn't get her out of his mind and ended up asking a teammate on the basketball team about her, but Loke only directed him to Erza and Juvia, two young girl who were more friends with Levy than with Lucy, and only knew the things that Levy had told them about her.

He supposed he could talk to Levy, she probably knew everything about her, but there was something inside Natsu that wanted Lucy to be able to tell her own story to him. He wanted this quiet, adorable girl to trust him.

It was crazy, he knew that, they were both already marked, and when it happened in the mall that day he had spent hours asking any blonde women he came across whether they had been marked or not. It was pretty embarrassing but the feeling he got when it first happened in the big crowd made Natsu excited and he wanted to find the girl, not just any girl, his girl. He had ended up continuing to look at the mall almost every day after practice too, asking random blondes if they had been in the mall that day or not.

But there was something about Lucy that made Natsu want her. He wanted to hold her, make her smile, talk to her and feel that sense of familiarity whenever she spoke, like he had heard her before they even spoke for the first time. It was a comforting feeling and at the very least he wanted to be her friend.

At the thought of Lucy smiling up at him with not just her lips but her eyes, he snapped out of his daze, walking straight into a wall. 'What the?' he thought rubbing his head as he heard a snicker behind him.

Turning around he looked at Lucy and noticed that they had come to T in the hallway. He had been so deep in thought he hadn't noticed that Lucy had turned down one hallway and stopped to watch as he ran into the wall.

Lucy had her head down and he could see her shoulders shaking. At first, he thought she was crying but then he realized she was trying not to laugh, with her hand covering her mouth and her hair hanging over her face as she attempted to hide her laughter. Sensing an opportunity Natsu smirked a bit.

"Crap, I guess walls are my enemies huh?" He said, rubbing the back of his neck embarrassed.

!

'He just walked into a friggin' wall!' Lucy laughed to herself. She had noticed that Natsu had spaced out, probably thinking about how weird she was, or Lisanna's ass, either one was upsetting so when she turned right down the hallway she had decided not to say anything, and instead turned to watch as he ran fast first into the wall.

!

At the Natsu's remark Lucy just couldn't hold it in and tipped her head back, laughing so loudly that it echoed down every hallway. She laughed for a good minute and a half before finally settling down enough to wipe the tears that had begun to leak from her eyes. Looking back at Natsu she noticed a small red mark on his forehead and a sheepish grin on his face. The mark on his forehead only made Lucy go into hysterics again and Natsu rolled his eyes.

"Ok, ok, come on now. Aren't you going to ask if I'm alright?" Natsu asked, pouting out his lip in an attempt to appear hurt as he watched and listened to the soft tinkling of her laughter. 'Yep, I was right, her eyes do sparkle when she laughs.' He though with a small smile.

Lucy shook her head as her laughter subsided. "No, I'm not" she said as she regained her ability to think and remembered who she was with.

"Thank you for making me laugh and walking me down the hallway though." She said to him before turning quickly and hurrying down the hall.

The sudden change in Lucy's personality left Natsu rooted to the floor, unable to go after her, he watched as she practically ran down the hall and into another one. 'What did I do to make her hate me so much?' he thought glumly as he finally turned the other way to head to lunch.

Lucy could feel his eyes on her as she left and silently prayed that he wouldn't follow her. She had gotten carried away back there and had let her emotion show. It scared her, he hadn't even tried to make her laugh, she was usually so good at keeping her emotions in check and a straight face on. She was angry at herself for getting swept up in something so small and silly and she promised herself it would never happen again.

**Author Note**

I love getting reviews! It makes me really happy to read what you guys think of this story so thank you! If anyone has any ideas they think might make this story better feel free to share them with me and I'll be happy to try them out when I'm writing the next chapters, I will also give credit!

~animebandmuisc


	5. Chapter 5

"Let me show you Lucy, please! I love you!" With a jolt Lucy sat up, desperately trying to hold on to what the person in her dream had said while glancing over at her clock. She groaned and flopped back on her bed. Waking up at 7am was not what she had in mind for Saturday morning. With another loud groan she rolled over and went back to sleep, this time without any familiar voices confessing their love.

!

At a reasonable hour Lucy was up and in the kitchen making her "adopted" family breakfast. It was the least she could do for the McGarden's to show how much she appreciated them.

"Morning Lu!" Levy called as she bounded down the stairs, already fully dressed in one of her favorite orange sundresses, and her wild blue hair pulled back with a matching orange headband.

"Morning Levy, wow you look nice! Where are you going?" asked Lucy as she set breakfast on the table, taking in her best friends' appearance with an appreciative nod and a light smile.

Levy looked at her friend closely. Lucy had told the blunette about her run in with Natsu in the hallway and knew it had upset her a lot. She hadn't done anything but hang out in her room and go to school since meeting the pinkette and it upset Levy to see her like this. So, she had devised a plan to cheer the brunette up.

With a big smile Levy strode into the kitchen, "Thanks!" she said happily, sitting down at the table and digging into the delicious pancakes Lucy had made. "But it's more like, where are we going?"

Lucy looked skeptically at the young girl and sat down at her own place to begin eating. "What do you mean? I don't have any plans today," Lucy said, giving the other girl a look as she stuffed her face full of pancake.

She had put Levy's parent's plates in the oven, so they wouldn't get cold since they weren't much of morning people on the weekends. They both were writers; Levy's mom wrote science journals for a magazine and her father wrote history books. It was where Levy had gotten her love of reading and Lucy had had the dream of becoming a writer herself.

"Yep! You and I are going out for the day!" Levy said excitedly as she finished up her breakfast. "I was thinking we'd have a girl's day out like we used to!"

Lucy bit her lip, that sounded like a lot of fun, but she really didn't want to deal with people from her school being out and about today to. Some of her classmates still whispered and pointed at her for what had happened in the parking lot when she punched Natsu.

"Alright, fine," the girl conceded, picking up their plates and taking them to the sink. "But we're going to the mall across town, not the one we went to last time. I don't want to run into anyone from Fairy Tail today." 'Especially a certain pink-haired boy' she thought quietly to herself.

Levy squealed and jumped up from her seat at the table. "Yay! Thank you, Lu!" the girl said excitedly, running over to hug her best friend, making the brunette let out a small laugh. "Yeah, yeah, but you're buying me another book, ok?"

"Deal!" Levy agreed, grabbing Lucy's hand and running up the stairs to get her ready. Lucy remembered Natsu grabbing that same hand to stop her and looked down. No buzzing occurred while Levy held her hand, it was weird, and it confused her, 'why did it only happen with Natsu?' she questioned to herself before shrugging it off as Levy chose an outfit for her to wear from her own closet. Looking at the outfits Lucy immediately declined each of them and went to her room, grabbing her favorite pair of jeans and a sweater that looked prettier than the other ones she owned.

She showed it to Levy who huffed, "Lucy, it's going to be 98 degrees outside today! You cannot wear that." With a delicate finger to her lips Levy's eyes grew wide, "I've got it!" she shouted and dug through her closet.

Lucy watched with a bit of curiosity as her friend dug through her clothes throwing different articles out of the way until she found the right items. "AHA!" Levy cried out, coming out of the closet with a pair of small blue fingerless gloves with little white stars all over them. "There, this way you can wear a pair of shorts and a shirt without worrying about people seeing your mark. And you'll look totally cute doing it!" Levy clapped her hands together at her own genius idea and went to grab Lucy an outfit before she could complain.

'It is going to be pretty hot today,' Lucy thought, looking down at the gloves. 'And these gloves are really cute.' It wasn't that Lucy didn't appreciate fashion or anything, she just didn't need the extra attention that seemed to follow her when she showed off extra skin. It scared her and made her remember everything that had happened before she had moved to Magnolia and met Levy, and that scared her, but looking at Levy's happy face at that moment she knew that her past was just that, her past and decided that since no one from school would see her she would dress up a bit extra today. After all, this was a day to make Levy happy to thank her for everything she had done.

"Alright, I'll wear them" Lucy said, nodding to her best friend who looked stunned. Levy had thought the brunette would put up a huge fight and end up wearing her usual sweater and jeans again.

"Really? Great! Here try this on!" Levy said delightedly, handing over a cute pair of blue shorts that matched the gloves in color and a white shirt with a large glimmering star on the front. Lucy loved stars, she was always so fascinated with the constellations and their meanings, so the outfit seemed absolutely perfect, and even the shy, quiet Lucy couldn't help but a get tad bit excited over wearing the outfit.

!

As the two young girls walked through the mall Lucy couldn't help but fidget uncomfortably at the feeling of the air all over her skin. This was the first time in years she'd gone out in public showing so much skin, the only time she ever wore clothes like this was in the comfort of Levy's house, where she could stay in her bedroom all day.

"You look great Lu," Levy said looking over at the nervous brunette, she meant it. Lucy looked incredible and she noticed that they were turning quite a few eyes as people looked at the two girls. It made Levy proud and she grabbed her best friends hand as encouragement.

Lucy responded by smiling her thank you and squeezing her hand. "Where to first?" she questioned looking at all the shops. As if reading each other's minds, the pair looked at each other as smile broke out on their faces. "The bookstore it is," Levy said the thing the two girls had been thinking as Lucy nodded happily.

Walking in the store made the girl's smiles brighten until they could barely see. Levy hurried over to the fantasy section and began scanning the rows while Lucy took her time to look through all the genres. She ran her fingertips over the rows of books and smiled to herself. It was how she chose a book, she would stop randomly and pull a book out, read a few lines or sometimes a whole chapter if she really liked it and either put it back or buy it. It never failed her, and the last book she had chosen was so good she couldn't put it down.

She smiled thinking about the book she had previously read on the two male figure skaters, one of which took a season off to couch the other younger guy and ended up ultimately falling in love. It was a wonderful book and Lucy hoped they would make it into a movie one day or even better a tv show.

With her thoughts on the last book she closed her eyes and dragged her fingers slowly over different shelves, stopping at just the right one. Before looking at the cover page she grabbed it off the shelf and opened it and her eyes at the same time. Getting to the first page quickly she read the lines slowly and carefully until a wide smile broke out over her face. The book was perfect, and she finally shut it to look at the title, 'Attack On Titan, hmm interesting' she thought to herself.

Satisfied with her find she walked over to find Levy with an armful of books and a wide grin displayed on her features. Lucy giggled at her best friend and shook her head a bit.

"Those are only going to last you this weekend," Lucy commented between her giggles as the girls walked to the register.

"You're probably right but they all look fascinating!" Levy replied. She enjoyed seeing her best friend smile and laugh again like normal and she was so happy they had come out today.

!

After purchasing their books and walking out with their bags the girls looked down both sides of the mall trying to decide where to go next. Lucy looked at her phone and noticed they had spent nearly an hour in the bookstore and it was now nearly noon. The brunette looked back down the hallway and blushed a bit as an idea formed in her head.

"Hey Levy," Lucy mumbled looking over at the blunette, "do you wanna go into Hot Topic? I'd like to see if they have different gloves."

Levy's eyes widened in surprise and she immediately began nodding her head excitedly, officially lost for words.

With that the two girls walked down the mall and into the dark, loud store. Lucy's eyes widened, and she smiled when she saw that the skating figures in her book had their own display and she immediately picked up a large sweatshirt with their faces on the front in a few sizes too big, so she could wear it to school.

Levy giggled and watched her friend, 'she looks like a kid in a candy shop' she thought to herself with another little giggle. The door chimed signaling more people coming into the store as the two girls walked to the back of the store to look at their gloves selection. All of a sudden Levy felt a tingling sensation begin to creep over her back and she reached behind her to scratch it, only when she touched the spot did she realize that it was where her Mark was.

"Lucy!" Levy shouted loudly turning in circles to see her Mark while Lucy turned to see her best friend spinning around like a dog trying to chase his tail.

"Levy… what are you doing?" asked Lucy looking around to make sure no one was watching them. Thankfully they were behind one of the island walls and since the two girls were pretty short she figured anyone that would see would only see the tops of their heads.

"My mark!" the spinning girl said in a loud whisper as she turned her back once more, so the other girl could see it. Lucy's eyes bugged as she looked at her best friends back. On Levy's left shoulder where her Mark was placed was now filled in black.

Lucy put her gloved hands to her mouth and gasped, leaning forward to look more closely at it. "Wow, it's black," she informed Levy, who was still trying to see it.

"Really? Hmm, I always thought it would be something orange or br-" Levy was cut off by a loud booming voice directly behind the two girls.

"Oi! Shrimp! You the one supposed to be my soulmate?!" the voice bellowed even though he was standing very close to the two girls.

Levy and Lucy spun around and looked up, physically tilting their heads back to look at the guys face. He had shoulder length black hair that matched Levy's Mark perfectly, and piercings up and down his ears. However, instead of making him look girly it just made him look even more badass. The piercing red eyes were directed straight at the slightly awestruck and intimidated Levy as he showed her his shoulder. The Mark there was filled in the same color as Levy's hair, making the two girls gasp.

"No freaking way," Levy whispered as she stared up at the man. She had to admit though, this guy was gorgeous, and even though his stare was a bit terrifying she couldn't help but appreciate the large muscles of his arms and the way his black shirt stretched perfectly over his body.

"Yes freaking way," the guy shot back bending down so they were mere inches apart from each other, "hmm, not bad," he said with a tilt of his head inspecting the still shocked blunette.

"The name's Gajeel Redfox, what's yours, Shrimp?" the black-haired man asked. He had looked over the blunette before he introduced himself and he had to admit. Whoever did the whole soulmate setting up thing had done pretty damn good. She was really small, in a cute way, and her big brown eyes told him that she could put up a pretty good fight if she wanted to. He liked that in a woman and it got him excited. Smirking to himself he watched the little blue haired girl stand up a bit straighter and square her shoulders.

"Well, for one thing Gajeel, it is not Shrimp. It is Levy McGarden, and I suppose if you have my hair color on your Mark and I have your hair color on my Mark then yes, I am just going to have to assume you got yours just now as well."

Lucy looked at her best friend and the guy that had introduced himself as Gajeel. Looking back and forth she could physically see the attraction between them and she smiled a bit, although she was still trying to figure the guy out. Without breaking the spell that seemed to be on the two of them as they stared at each other, Lucy walked over to the check out and bought her sweatshirt and a few other pairs of gloves.

Checking on her friend that seemed to be in a deep conversation with Gajeel she walked out of the store to give them a bit of privacy to get to know each other and sat on one of the couches in the middle of the malls hallway, still facing the store in case anything bad happened. Lucy was happy for Levy; the two girls would sometimes stay up for hours talking about what Levy's soulmate would look like and act like. This guy was definitely not what either of them had imagined but it was adorable to say the least, and Lucy didn't think Levy seemed to mind.

"Lucy? Is that really you?" A voice called, bringing Lucy out of her thoughts. She looked over startled to see tufts of pink hair in her line of vision.

"Hey it is you! I didn't recognize ya in those clothes! Man, you look good!" Natsu said, taking a seat beside the shocked brunette.

Lucy was stunned and looked at the pinkette and then noticed the guy with black hair behind him. He was actually really cute aside from the glare that was plastered on his face and Lucy couldn't help but stare.

Natsu having remembered Gray was behind him turned to look at his friend. "Oh, right! Lucy, this is Gray Fullbuster, he and I went to Magnolia High together and were on the same basketball team along with our other friend we're here with. But… we somehow managed to lose him and can't find where he went." Natsu rambled, scratching the back of his neck with a sheepish grin.

"Does he have black hair and piercings in his ears?" Lucy questioned, making both boys nod surprised. "Yeah, he's in Hot Topic with Levy. They're each other's soulmates." Lucy said nonchalantly.

"WHAT?!" shouted the boys in unison as Natsu got up running into the store, quickly followed by Gray. A few minutes after they had disappeared inside they came out, with what looked to be injuries on their faces and wide grins.

"What the heck happened?" Lucy asked startled, looking at the two boys.

"He kinda got mad at us for interrupting." Natsu said with a grin and waved his hand, "this is nothing."

"So, what are you doing here on the other side of town? Isn't there a mall closer to you?" Natsu questioned looking over the brunette once more. "And why are ya dressed like that?"

Lucy's eyes widened as she remembered that she was dressed differently than what she usually was and looked down at her bare legs and hands in her lap.

"Ow hey! What the hell was that for, ice princess!" Natsu said loudly causing the brunette to look up and see Natsu rubbing the back of his head with an irritated glare at Gray.

"You don't ask a girl that, flame brain! You're supposed to just say she looks nice," Gray retorted, crossing his arms as he turned away annoyed with the pinkette.

"Oh… sorry Luce, you do look nice!" Natsu complimented the girl. And it was true, her long legs looked incredible in the blue shorts and he couldn't help admiring every inch of skin that was showing. He smiled when Lucy looked up at him and thought she might get mad at him but instead she just nodded a thank you and looked back down at her lap.

With a big stretch Natsu stood up and held out his hand to Lucy, unfazed by her silence. "Come on, let's leave the love birds to talk for a while and go get something to eat huh? I'm starving!" Natsu said, clenching his fist in victory.

"You're always hungry, ash boy," Gray said but stretched and stood behind Natsu anyway, waiting for the brunette. To his surprise Natsu ignored the comment and smiled at Lucy who was looking up at the pinkette with hesitation.

Lucy glanced back at the store and reached into her pocket, sending a quick text to let Levy know she was going with Natsu and Gray to get food and that they'd be back soon. Instead of grabbing Natsu's hand though she ignored it and stood up on her own walking away without looking back to see if the boys were following.

Natsu and Gray were left watching the girl walk away in a stunned silence. "Well isn't she sweet" Gray remarked, making Natsu clench his fists, "Don't talk about her like that Gray," he said feeling the need to protect Lucy as they followed behind her a way. Gray just shrugged but glanced over at his friend to see him staring at Lucy protectively. It made him wonder about the brunette and what was really going on.

Lucy kept her head down, knowing the boys were following but also keeping their distance made her feel a little bit better and she relaxed a bit. That is until she felt a force bump into her as she was walking around the fountain in the middle of the mall. Lucy lost her balance and tripped, tumbling towards the water with her arms stretched out trying to grab anything she could.

Natsu saw her get shoved, and knew he had to act fast, running as fast as his legs could carry him he reached the girl as she fell and grabbed her right hand, only to have her glove slip off and she tumbled into the fountain.

Lucy felt the cold-water rush around her and shut her eyes, as the look of pure failure on Natsu's face was the last thing she saw. Sitting up in the fountain Lucy looked around, noticing people laughing at her or just blatantly staring in shock and she looked down embarrassed. A hand appeared in front of her face and she looked up to see Natsu holding his hand out to her with a soft smile on his face. She sighed and grabbed his hand with her right one, so he could help her out but instead he froze, and Lucy felt him tense up under her hand. She looked down at their hands as the buzzing began again on her Mark and gasped, remembering her glove had come off when he tried to save her from falling in, which meant that her very pink Mark was showing and buzzing and Natsu was looking directly at it.

"It's you?" Natsu asked in a shocked whisper as he held her hand and his shoulder buzzed. "You're my soulmate?"

!X!

**Author's Note**

So what did ya'll think?! I'm pretty sure this is one of my longest chapters, and don't worry it's not over for a while I promise! Sorry that it took a little longer than the other chapters, I got very busy. And also, I do not own Attack On Titan or Yuri On Ice just thought I'd put that in there. Let me know what ya'll think of this chapter! Thanks!

~Animebandmusic


	6. Chapter 6

_**Flashback Lucy's Story**_

 _She remembered the smiles on her parents face when they looked at her, and the loving look they gave each other. Lucy knew that her parents, Jude and Layla Heartfilia, were true soulmates. She always loved to sit on her parent's bed when she was a little girl and listen to her mother tell her the story of how they met in Acalypha, a small town with a tiny bank named Love and Lucky._

 _Her mother, Layla worked in the bank and had sat down with a man, a little older than herself, when suddenly, she felt her mark begin to tingle. He had come in wanting to start up his own business and had needed a loan from the bank. Getting Layla as a soulmate would have been just fine but to top it off he got the loan as well and the two of them left the bank and Acalypha behind a few short days later to begin their next adventure._

 _As they left the bank, the pair had noticed a part of the sign had fallen down and the bank had been turned into 'Love and Lucy' and the soulmates vowed that if they were ever to have a daughter, her name would be Lucy. And on they went to fulfill Jude's dream of owning his own large business, and Layla's dream of raising a child on a rather large farm property on the outskirts of Magnolia. It was there that Lucy was born, and the family lived their happy and in love for many years. So much in love that Lucy loved to imagine herself finding her very own soulmate and growing up just as her parents did. It excited her, and she loved to play with the little servants children, one as her soul mate and the others as her children and close friends. Lucy couldn't wait to grow up and find her real soulmate and be just like her parents._

 _!_

 _It wasn't until later, when Lucy was 14 that things had begun to take a turn for the worst. Her father had managed to lose a very important business meeting and they small family of three had been forced to move out of their home into a very small and cramped apartment that the family had used as a storage shed on the edge of their property while the rest of the land was sold off to wealthy businessmen._

 _It made her father very angry to see what he had created turn into merely a waste and he blamed Layla for not creating a male heir to help Jude run the business. In fact, he had begun to blame Layla for everything that was going wrong in his life. Until one day he came home very drunk and out of control. As Layla began trying to reason with him he shouted, and screamed as he had never done before and struck the woman, not knowing that Lucy stood in hallway watching with large, grief filled eyes. At the sound of the slap a new look began to form in the large man's eyes. One that seemed to have disappeared when he lost his business, it was the look of ultimate power, and it terrified Lucy. With a satisfied smirk the man had lumbered down the hallway, patting his daughter on the head and retreating to the parent's small room as Layla laid on the floor sobbing and holding her cheek. "Mommy, are you ok?" Lucy had asked, getting down and sitting next to the sobbing woman. Her mother had turned, and Lucy and her mother reached for each other at the same time as they cried together that night._

 _!_

 _Jude Heartfilia had come home every night for months after that first time, drunk. On some nights he was kind and spoke only of love to his wife and daughter, but on other nights he screamed and threw things at Layla while Lucy could only watch. It frightened the young girl when he came home and when before she used to look forward to seeing her father, she now dreaded the moment the door opened._

 _Layla had devised a plan to leave her husband, soulmate, and best friend and take her daughter somewhere safe. She knew in her heart it was the right thing to do even though it hurt her to leave the man she loved behind. The day the two women were destined to leave, Jude came home early drunk but in a rather good mood, to find suitcases by the front door and her wife and daughter in one of the rooms whisper about when their train would be there and the time they would leave. Jude was pissed, and he quietly walked through the house knowing what he had to do._

 _Lucy and Layla had planned to stay in Lucy's room discussing what would happen after they left when Jude came barging into the room. The wife rose quickly from the bed as Lucy screamed pointing to the sharp object glinting in Jude's hand. As Layla began to reason with her beloved soulmate she signaled for her daughter to leave the room. With only slight hesitation, Lucy did as she was told and skirted around the edge of the room until she got to the hallway. She watched, horrified as her mother pleaded with her father not to do anything rash but the man only chuckled and advanced on the woman._

 _"_ _Lucy! Go! Remember the plan and know that I love you!" Layla cried out as Jude took he final step towards his wife. He plunged the knife down directly over her heart where her Soul Mark lay and Layla fell, followed by a crying Jude who knelt in front of his dead wife holding her head and stroking her hair._

 _With that Lucy turned and ran, crashing into walls as tears blurred her vision. She could still hear her father's cries from the bedroom when she grabbed the large amount of money and all the paperwork her mother had had ready to go for when they left. With the papers and money in hand, she grabbed a picture of her mother and her smiling at the camera as they sat on a park bench and ran out the door, not once looking back, even when she heard her father call out her name as she ran away from her whole life._

 _As soon as Lucy got to the hotel her and her mother were supposed to stay at she crawled into the shower and cried for hours. She knew she'd have to face reality sooner or later but for those few hours she mourned the loss of her mother and the loss of her old life. And she knew, with all her heart that no one, not one single person in the world, could ever be her soulmate and there was no one in the world she would ever fully trust the way she had with her parents._

**Author's Note**

Ok so I did this to you guys! Yep! Sorry! You'll just have to wait another chapter to find out what happens to Lucy and Natsu now that Natsu knows. What did ya'll think of Lucy's backstory though? I tried to keep just a bit like the actual show cuz I absolutely love that part where she finds out how she got the name Lucy. But anyway let me know what you think! and trust me it hurt writing this chapter so much!


	7. Chapter 7

_Previously:_

 _Lucy felt the cold-water rush around her and shut her eyes, as the look of pure failure on Natsu's face was the last thing she saw. Sitting up in the fountain Lucy looked around, noticing people laughing at her or just blatantly staring in shock and she looked down embarrassed. A hand appeared in front of her face and she looked up to see Natsu holding his hand out to her with a soft smile on his face. She sighed and grabbed his hand with her right one, so he could help her out but instead he froze, and Lucy felt him tense up under her hand. She looked down at their hands as the buzzing began again on her Mark and gasped, remembering her glove had come off when he tried to save her from falling in, which meant that her very pink Mark was showing and buzzing and Natsu was looking directly at it._

 _"_ _It's you?" Natsu asked in a shocked whisper as he held her hand and his shoulder buzzed. "You're my soulmate?"_

!X!

Her heart stopped and the pounding in her head began as she looked up in shock at Natsu and Gray. Natsu still had a hold of her hand and the buzzing sensation in both of their marks was intensifying with every second. Almost in slow motion Lucy looked over at the sound of her name to see Levy and Gajeel running towards the three of them. Levy gasped in shock when she realized what had happened and Gajeel's eyes bugged out a bit.

"Lucy!" Natsu snapped, pulling her gaze quickly back to him. Her eyes were still as wide as saucers and she had begun shaking, not just from the cold water that was now drenching her entire body as she still sat in the fountain, but from Natsu's harsh shout. It reminded her of her dad and in that moment, everything came rushing back to her and tears pooled in her chocolate brown eyes.

Standing and letting go of Natsu's hand quickly she hopped out of the fountain and took off through the crowds of people. The tears that had been threatening to overflow finally fell down the girls' bright pink cheeks. She maneuvered through the thick crowds as best she could, her being dripping wet made it a little easier and she was able to slip into the girl's bathroom at the furthest end of the mall away from the fountain.

!

Natsu had watched in disbelief as Lucy ran away from him. He was still rooted to the spot she had left him in when he tried to help her out of the fountain. It felt like a dream. One second he was racing over to help her before she fell, and the next, her glove was off showing a mark that matched Natsu's hair right down the little shades of red. He couldn't believe it, she had known all along, since the day he came to school at least.

Natsu remembered her reaction in history class when he was introduced, now it all made sense. 'But still, why had she tried to hide it?' he thought as he continued to stare at the crowd of people Lucy had disappeared into.

"Well, ash for brains, are you going after her or what?" Gray barked at him, snapping the dazed pinkette out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh! Yeah I should do that." Natsu said but made no attempt to move. He was still stuck on the fact that she had known and didn't say anything, and had actually tried to avoid him instead. It wasn't how soulmates were supposed to act. He looked over at Gajeel and Levy who were holding hands and staring expectantly at the confused looking boy. 'That's how they were supposed to act' he thought to himself, blinking slowly.

!

Levy knew Natsu was trying to process it all and it broke her heart to see him look so confused. She looked up at Gajeel and squeezed his hand with a smile as he looked down at her. "What is it, Shrimp?" Gajeel asked, making Levy's brow furrow.

"I'm gonna go find Lucy and get her home, ok? She must be pretty shocked and cold in those wet clothes." Levy replied to the burly man. She couldn't help but smile at him when his brow furrowed, and his hand tightened a little more around hers protectively.

Gajeel understood though, and let Levy go look for Lucy after exchanging numbers and promising him she would text him when she found Lucy and when she got home. It made the small girl smile to think about how protective he was, and she walked away from the trio of boys that were dragging Natsu the other way with a small glance back at Gajeel to see he had done the same.

Levy texted Lucy and told her that she was alone and that the boys had left. They met up outside the bathroom that Lucy had been hiding in and Levy pulled the sobbing, shivering girl into a big hug.

"Come on, let's get you home," Levy whispered comfortingly, guiding the dripping girl to the parking lot and into her car where she turned the heater on full blast and the rest of the car ride home was silent aside from Lucy's crying.

!

It had been a full day since Natsu had found out about Lucy's mark and she was currently laid up in bed with a cold from her fall in the fountain. 'It was kind of perfect' she thought to herself, 'now I don't have to make up an excuse to miss school tomorrow.'

Lucy didn't want to think about what had happened yesterday, she just couldn't, it was too embarrassing. She could hear the distraught sound of Natsu's voice when he found out, and then the anger that had come after it. She may not have known Natsu very well, but she knew enough to know that he probably didn't get mad like that often. With that Lucy fell into a fitful sleep throughout the day as a fever crept through her body.

!

Levy had gone in to check on Lucy and found her looking rather odd. With a cool hand Levy placed it on the young girl's forehead and immediately pulled it back in shock. She was on fire! Levy couldn't believe how hot she was and immediately ran to get her a wet wash cloth and alerted her parents who came running down the hall after Levy. Both of Levy's parents looked at Lucy and touched her forehead with the exact same reaction Levy had.

Lucy had begun to shiver and sweat and the McGarden's could only think to call the ambulance due to how hot her body was. While they waited they threw every blanket and comforter they had over Lucy, but it was no use, her shivering intensified.

!

Levy sat in the hospital waiting room with her parents, and texted Gajeel updates whenever she could. He had wanted to drive to the hospital to be with her, but she declined halfheartedly, already missing her soulmate terribly, but knowing he needed to be with his friends. As it turned out Natsu was in nearly the same state but with different symptoms. He couldn't move without feeling like he was going to throw up and he always woke up from sleep screaming that he was falling through the sky.

Lucy had yet to wake up and had begun to toss and turn in the hospital bed, her fever had not gone down, and the doctors had told the McGarden's that it was up to 104, a number that shocked both the doctors and the family of three. She was being monitored very closely in case something even worse happened. No one could figure out what was wrong with her and why the fever wasn't breaking no matter what they tried.

!

Lucy felt like she was on fire, she was burning up and her head was pounding. She shifted in bed trying to get comfortable all while her eyes stayed shut. She couldn't open them no matter how hard she tried, and she finally fell back into the black void of unconsciousness.

!

Natsu woke up groaning as his stomach lurched and he reached for the bucket beside his bed. He didn't understand why he felt like this or why every time he closed his eyes he imagined he was falling through the sky. It pissed him off and he groaned as his brain pounded inside his skull.

"Natsu? How are you feeling?" came a little voice and he cracked his eyes open enough to see his little sister, Wendy kneeling in front of him.

He smiled a little at his younger sister and looked into her worried eyes. "I'm doing alright squirt; don't you worry about me." He said with a small amount of determination in his voice. He went to pat Wendy's blue hair between her pigtails when his stomach lurched again, and he gagged into his bucket.

"I'm tired though ok? Mind if we talk when I'm feeling better?" He asked with an apologetic smile and his sister nodded, standing up and leaving his room with only a glance back. As soon as Wendy left Natsu passed out unable to fight the exhaustion.

!

She was dreaming, she was sure of it. Lucy was no longer in her room and felt 100 times better as she looked around the foggy forest. 'Yep, definitely dreaming.' She thought to herself, looking down at her bare feet and wondered why she was wearing a hospital gown.

"Lucy?" came a familiar voice and the brunette looked up, squinting into the fog to see who the voice had come from.

She saw a pink head emerge through the fog and her eyes widened. Natsu looked so real, like he was actually there in front of her and not just a dream.

"What are you doing in my dream?" he asked tilting his head curiously at her, "and why are you dressed in a hospital gown?" She looked him over and noticed he was in what she could only describe as pajamas, a white shirt, and black basketball shorts with his scarf he wore everyday around his neck. 'Wait, had he said his dream? Surely this is my dream,' thought Lucy.

"I think you mean my dream," she replied cautiously as she looked at the boy before her. Suddenly it all came to her, the voice she could never remember when she woke up. It was his voice! Natsu's voice!

"Oh my god," Lucy mumbled to herself as her hands came up to cover her mouth. Natsu stared at her with wide eyes as he pointed. "Lucy, look at your hand!" Natsu said urgently causing the girl to quickly pull her hands away from her mouth and look at them. Lucy gasped and looked at her mark, it was glowing a bright red and looked almost like fire on her hand. She looked back up to see that Natsu had stepped a bit closer and was looking at her with a look of utter shock, one she was mirroring right back to him.

"Natsu," Lucy whispered softly, causing the man to shiver, "your shoulder's glowing too." With a finger pointed directly at his shoulder he looked down and his eyes bugged. Sure enough, his shoulder had begun to glow with what he could only describe as the brightness of a million stars. It was mesmerizing, and he looked back over to Lucy.

"Hey Luce, I don't think we're really in a dream." Natsu stated, looking back down at her hand. He stepped closer and watched as the glowing grew brighter, causing Lucy to gasp and look up at him.

All of a sudden both of the teens visions began to blur, and they looked at each other, blinking rapidly to clear it. "Hold on Lucy! I'm coming to see you!" Natsu shouted. And then she woke up with a scream.

!X!

This is probably one of my favorite chapters! And yes, it is updated, thank you to one of my reviewers! (you know who you are) :) Anyway I hope ya'll liked it and are looking forward to the next chapter! I love reading your reviews!

~Andimebandmusic


	8. Chapter 8

Levy heard the scream from down the hallway, with a shocked look at her parents she took off following behind as several nurses and the doctor ran into Lucy's room.

Levy let out an audible gasp, clasping her hands over her mouth in shock. Her best friend, the person she cared about most in the world, stared up at the ceiling as if she had seen a ghost.

As Levy stepped closer, dodging the doctors and nurses in the room as if in a near daze, she noticed that Lucy's hands shook uncontrollably, and a single tear was slipping down the side of her face.

"Natsu…" came a very soft whisper from the brunette as she stared up at the ceiling.

Levy's eyes began to flood with unshed tears and her mother laid a hand on her arm. A glance back at the woman gave Levy all the information she needed to let the tears flow. She had heard the doctors talking and whispering between each other enough to know that Lucy was still asleep, and they weren't sure when or even if she would wake up.

With a sob escaping the blunettes throat she fell to her knees and her body shook. She couldn't think straight, and she didn't understand why this was happening. Surely this wasn't just because Lucy fell into the fountain. There had to be something else going on, but what? Natsu was pretty sick, too right? In a different way though, but he was still sick, and it had started the same time Lucy got sick. So, what was going on?

Levy was still crying into her hands as she thought about the situation. Finally standing up she dried her eyes and looked at Lucy. With a soft sad smile, she bent down and kissed her best friend's cheeks.

"I'll figure it out Lu. I promise," she whispered as her tears dripped down onto Lucy's cheeks. With a glance back at her friend she walked out, following her parents back to the waiting room.

Levy was too focused on the floor, thinking about all the things that could be wrong with Lucy that she hadn't realized she had passed the waiting room until she bumped into a tall, muscular person in front of her. A gasp escaped her lips and she looked up to apologize to the person, "Oh crap!" she squeaked out, "I'm so sor-Gajeel?" The little blunettes features morphed from sadness to confusion.

"Hey Shrimp!" Gajeel said loudly, leaning over to look at her face.

"W-What are you doing here?" Levy stuttered out, blushing at the proximity of his face to hers.

"Had to bring Pinky to the hospital. He shot up out of bed screaming something about needing to go to Lucy and then tried to get up out of bed, but he collapsed and wouldn't wake up. His sister called me and Gray in panic and well… here we are." Gajeel rambled standing back up and looking slightly embarrassed at talking so much.

Levy's eyes grew even wider and she gasped loudly causing Gajeel to raise an eyebrow at the little woman in front of him. Levy grabbed his jacket pulling him down forcefully, making the large man sputter.

"Natsu is here?" she practically shouted, causing Gajeel to mutely nod in shock. The small nod was all Levy needed as she ran down the hall away from him and out of sight,

'Damn, she's a little spitfire, isn't she?' Gajeel thought with a smirk. 'Wait, she doesn't know where she's going,' as the smirk fell off his face and his signature frown returned.

Walking down the hall he followed the way Levy went and found that she had already gone into Natsu's room and was leaning over the bed to stare at the pinkette. Gajeel's eye twitched with jealousy as he watched Levy gaze at Natsu with such intensity. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts he walked to stand beside Levy.

"What's up, Shrimp?" he asked, placing his arm on her head, noticing that she was the perfect height for him.

Levy glared up at the brute but ignored his arm on her head as she answered him, "he doesn't look all that sick to me."

"Wha-? He was just puking his brains out and couldn't even move." Gajeel replied in a bit of a shock. He peered down at Natsu with curiosity and sure enough, Natsu was no longer pale and sickly looking like he had when they brought him to the hospital, and his eyes were actually fluttering, as if he were trying to open them.

Suddenly as the pair stared at the sick boy he shot up looking around the room desperately. "What's going on?" cried out a confused Natsu as he took in his surroundings and the two people next to the bed he was in.

"Natsu take it easy," came Levy's soft voice, "you're in the hospital, you passed out and your sister called Gajeel and Gray to bring you here. Apparently, you were pretty sick, but you actually don't look that bad, a little queasy but nothing like Gajeel had described before." Levy rambled on but Natsu had stopped listening.

'Hospital…" why was a hospital so important to him, why couldn't he remember. Natsu struggled to keep up with the thoughts in his head. He remembered talking to his sister at his house and then getting sick and then, nothing. It was a complete blank. He felt a warmth in his right shoulder and glanced down at his mark with wide eyes.

"Lucy!" he shouted, hopping out of bed, taking a minute to calm his stomach and his mind.

"Is Lucy at this hospital?" He shouted the question at a shocked Levy. At Levy's slow nod he raced out of the room, ignoring the shout from Gajeel as he stumbled down the hall clutching his stomach at all of the sudden movements.

"Where's Lucy's room?" He asked a nurse who stared at him with wide eyes.

To be fair he did look like a mad man, with his hair disheveled and greasy from not having showered the last few days, and his hospital gown wrinkled as he wore only his boxers' underneath.

Unable to answer, the woman could only point down the hall he had been walking towards. It was enough for Natsu and he tore down the hallway, able to move faster at the thought of seeing Lucy. It was easy to find her room, he just had to look for the last name next to the door.

With a sigh of relief, he put his hand on the handle and turned it, walking in without preparing himself. He didn't know what he had been expecting but seeing an unconscious, pale and sickly-looking Lucy staring up at the ceiling with a dead look on her face was not it.

"L-Luce," he choked out, unable to say anymore as he walked over to her bedside. Their close proximity made his mark tingle and he could feel the heat radiating from it. It made him look down at her marked right hand and he walked over to that side of the bed. Picking up her hand gently made the tingling in his mark increase and he wondered if she could feel it too, He couldn't resist running his thumb over the pink colored mark as he stared at the girl.

There were so many things he couldn't place, like how she was his soulmate when he had a yellow colored mark, why hadn't she told him when she found out, and why did she keep trying to avoid him? So many thoughts ran threw his head that made his head hurt and he clutched it, still keeping a hold of Lucy's hand at the same time.

"Natsu," came a tiny voice from just inside the dark room. Natsu looked up to see Levy walking closer to grab hold of Lucy's other hand.

"She's pretty sick," Levy said with a sad smile, gripping onto Lucy's hand. She looked back up at Natsu with another sad smile.

"How are you feeling?" She asked curiously, looking Natsu in the eyes.

"I feel a lot better," Natsu confessed, rubbing the back of his neck.

Levy smiled and nodded as if she had figured that would be his answer. "Yeah, I thought you might say that."

"Whaddya mean?" asked the pinkette as he gripped Lucy's hand a little tighter.

"I spoke with Gajeel and it turns out that your sister had called him right after you woke up screaming about needing to see Lucy. What was that about?" Levy's concern was evident and Natsu blushed slightly, embarrassed and not wanting Levy to know about the dream he and Lucy had shared. With a sigh Natsu explained to her what happened, and Levy listened, wide eyed but understanding as she replied with soft nods here and there.

As Natsu relayed the dream to Levy he couldn't help but subconsciously stroke Lucy's mark slowly, although the contact made his own mark tingle and warm, it wasn't un pleasant and in fact had him smiling a bit as he gazed down at the pretty brunette.

When he finished his story, he looked back up at Levy, expecting her to be more shocked than she appeared and Natsu glanced at her questioningly. Levy was deep in thought and she seemed to be looking directly at Natsu and Lucy's hands which made him blush but not let go.

"I read a book once about two soulmates back a very long time ago who could share dreams, tell when they were in the same room as each other, and they could even sense each other's feelings. They had a special bond toward each other, it was stronger than anyone else's with their soulmates. No one really found out why they were special or anything and the couple died within days from each other.

That was another thing, they couldn't be too far apart from each other or else they'd get sick. They had said that when they first met they were fine, but the more contact they came into with each other, the more they got sick when they got too far away. It hurt them every time and even though the dreams helped some, they still ended up getting too sick to be away for very long."

Levy finished her tale with a shimmering tear falling down her face. It landed on her and Lucy's joined hands and Levy stared at it in fascination. She hadn't even realized she had been crying. Glancing up at Natsu she saw that he was staring at her with his mouth slightly open and his eyes widened in pure shock.

"Is that what you think is going on with Lucy and I?" Natsu whispered as he looked back down at the beautiful girl laying in the hospital bed.

Levy could only nod as she stared at the boy's tender look while he gazed down at her best friend.

With a tear streaked face, Natsu glanced back to Levy as he clutched Lucy's hand, a determined look in his eyes and in his voice as he spoke, "If that's the case then why hasn't she woken up? I'm right here! And I'll be damned if I ever leave her side again!"

!X!

So... hopefully ya'll liked this. Sorry this wasn't that long, I hope to update in the next few days with another, longer chapter. It took a while to write just because I've been so busy and I wasn't 100% sure where I wanted to go with this story. Yea I realize the whole setting takes place in like an hour but don't you think it worked? I like to think it did! Anyway let me know if ya'll thought it was too dramatic or maybe needed a little bit more drama? Whatever you think wanna hear it! Also, I'm gonna be starting a new Fairy Tail story that I'm really excited about actually! I won't go into detail on here but pm me if you're interested to know the plot. Have a good day!

~animebandmusic


	9. Chapter 9

Lucy had heard Natsu's scream, even though she couldn't move yet she had heard it all, even the story that Levy had told. It made Lucy sad to know that she had been hurting Natsu, but it also made her upset that she wouldn't be able to go very far from Natsu.

She didn't want this, she hadn't asked for any of this. All she wanted was to be able to graduate and go to college to become a writer, never having to think about a soulmate, lies, or betrayal.

She was pulled back to reality when she heard a deep sigh.

"Can I have a minute alone with her Levy?" a rough voice came from her right side, it sounded like Natsu was trying to hold back from crying.

With her eyes shut again after Natsu came into the room, Lucy only heard the noise of footsteps walking out of her room and the door opening and closing with a soft click. Natsu still held her hand in his and she could feel the tingling sensation in her mark as he touched her.

"Hey Luce…" Natsu's voice cracked and he sucked in a deep breath, rubbing his thumb over her hand, causing shivers down her spine.

"I know you can't hear me right now, but I promised you I'd come see you, didn't I?" Lucy could hear the sad smile he gave her, and it tugged at her heart.

"Levy says we're gonna need to stay near each other now, lucky me huh? Ever since I met you that first day you ran out of history class I knew that's all I ever wanted. I just wish it was more of your choice than being forced to, so you don't get sick…" Natsu's voice trailed off as he continued to stroke her hand.

Lucy was focused on his voice and she knew that he was crying then. The cracks in his voice and slightly altered breathing gave it away but so did the tears that fell on her arm. She was just as saddened by his speech, but for other reasons. She had hurt him, unintentionally but she had still hurt him. And now, when she awoke she knew she was going to hurt him even more.

Lucy understood the situation they were in, she had realized it as soon as Natsu had entered her dream. It all made sense and she had remembered the story her mom told her before bed every night as a child, of the soulmates that were so intensely bonded they could share dreams, and would get sick when they were too far apart from one another.

What she didn't understand was why it was her and Natsu that were like the couple. She didn't even like him. She hadn't even wanted a soulmate. So why, why was it her that got the one she couldn't avoid?

With that question still weighing heavily on her mind Lucy slowly opened her eyes, squinting a bit to make out Natsu, who knelt beside her bed with his head bowed. She looked at him for a minute, smiling sadly at the top of his pink hair, before pulling her hand away from his.

Natsu's head shot up at the first flicker of movement against his hand, "Lucy!" he cried out, already gaining a large grin on his face, "you're ok!" The relief on Natsu's face was evident as his grin grew larger every second he looked at Lucy.

Lucy looked at the happy smile on the boy's face and a frown replaced her once expressionless face. She took in a deep breath and whispered her words, afraid that her voice might crack if she spoke too loud. "Go get Levy." Was all the girl could muster before turning to look the other way.

!

Natsu stood next to Lucy's bedside in shock, 'did she really just snubbed me?' he asked himself incredulously as he looked at the brunette, now avoiding his gaze while she looked the other way. He clenched his fists together at his side and that was when he realized that she had pulled her hand out of his, the tingling sensation that was in his shoulder had died, and his heart broke at the realization of it all.

Feeling stupid he wiped his eyes dry and marched out of the room, making sure he never looked back at Lucy, even though he wanted to, a lot. He knew he had already fallen hard for the cold-hearted girl, the minute he had punched the crap out of him in the parking lot he realized he wouldn't be able to forget her that easily. He just never understood why he was so drawn to her when they both had different soulmates, or well when he thought they had different soulmates.

!

As soon as the door had slammed shut Lucy released the tears that had been threatening to fall. She may not be in love with Natsu, but she knew he didn't deserve her cruelty, especially since he hadn't done anything wrong. Still, there was no way she was ever going to let him get through to her heart, of that she was sure.

!

To the doctor's surprise, Lucy was able to leave the hospital the next day after many tests and questions from them and nurses. She wasn't back to 100 percent health, but she was down to just a dull ache in her head. Natsu, who had stayed at the hospital to be close to Lucy, was perfectly fine again, which Levy thought was because he wasn't fighting their bond, unlike Lucy, which was why hers was so much worse.

The two teens were both hesitant to go very far from each other, not wanting to cause another illness to either themselves or the other person. They had concluded, due to Natsu not going into the room that Lucy was staying in, that they could be in the same building and not get the feeling of being sick, which made Lucy feel better about going back to school.

Natsu had given Levy his cell number to give to Lucy, telling him to text her the minute she felt sick and he would come over. They realized that they didn't live very far from each other, actually, he had moved in just a few houses down from Levy's, a huge relief that had lifted from both of their shoulders.

The reason they had gotten so sick the first time, they concluded was that they had been separated for a few days, so even though they were close to each other by their houses, it wasn't enough, and they needed to see each other daily, or risk getting sick again.

With all the experiments over that the two teens had tried throughout the week they weren't allowed to go to school, they felt ready to go to school the next Monday with a plan.

!

Monday came around and Lucy was suddenly nervous, she had seen Natsu every day as he ran by Levy's house, making sure they both saw each other, which seemed to make them both feel fine throughout the day. But now that she was going back to school, after almost two weeks of not being there, she was scared.

!

Levy had brought home any notes she missed, and she was already caught up on homework that she had missed. It wasn't that going back to school freaked her out, it was the fact that she would have to see Natsu even more. They had only sent a few courteous texts back and forth to find out how far they could go before they started feeling ill, or how many days it took. They had also devised the plan that they were about to implement during school to make it easier on each other. Other than that, her phone had been silent.

!

With a nervous glance at her clock she shrugged on her backpack and headed down the stairs, taking a glance at her appearance, something she had never thought about doing before. She didn't look too bad, she was wearing a dark blue shirt with one of her new pairs of gloves she had picked out at Hot Topic, jeans and a pair of converse. She had opted to go short sleeve, and even though she knew she didn't need to hide her mark anymore, she couldn't help but feel more secure by sliding the soft, fingerless gloves on over her hands.

As she met Levy downstairs at the door the other girl nodded and smiled happily at her appearance. "I like it" she stated, leading Lucy out the door and to the car.

The drive to school was a short one but Lucy couldn't help the queasy feeling she felt the further away from Natsu she got. Trying to focus on the plan, rather than her stomach, she climbed out of the car, careful to move slow so that she didn't get sick. Levy ran over to her side of the car and helped her sit down in the quad in front of the school, where she could sit and wait for Natsu to get there.

They had thought about all going in one car to make it easier but then Lucy realized that Natsu had basketball practice after school every day, meaning that not only Lucy, but Levy as well would be stuck to wait for him. And Lucy couldn't bring her best friend into the situation like that, especially now that she had Gajeel, besides, Natsu was late a lot of the time and that was not Lucy's style.

So, there she sat, with her head on her bag as she waited for Natsu to get to school. She knew he would be just fine to drive to school, he could go longer and further than Lucy could without getting sick, due to him actually accepting the two of them as soulmates, or so Levy thought.

Levy sat next to the miserable Lucy and patted her back reassuringly trying to make Lucy feel better. Lucy looked up when she felt someone sit next to them. She was a bit shocked to see it be Erza and Juvia, two of Levy's friends that Lucy had only ever seen a few times and had never truly been introduced too.

"Hi Levy," the one with scarlet red hair said cheerfully, Lucy recognized her as Erza from what Levy had told her about the two girls, which meant that the one with blue hair was Juvia, she seemed to be the less talkative of the two as she merely nodded and smiled her greetings.

"Hey Erza, hi Juvia" Levy called out back to the two girls as they took seats around the table. Lucy looked up from her bag and gave a weak smile to the two girls and a polite nod.

"You must be Lucy," Erza said politely, taking in the girl's weak state with curiosity. All Lucy could do was nod and give another smile before she laid her head back down on her bag.

'Where the hell is that idiot?' she thought to herself as her stomach lurched a bit. Grabbing her phone, she sent a quick text to Natsu and laid her head back down, listening to the other girls at the table talk.

"Lucy's still not all the way better," Levy said, leaving out the fact that it was due to a stupid pink-haired boys fault for being late. Lucy didn't hear the replies of the other two as her stomach began to feel better and she could actually lift her head up without getting sick.

Quickly she turned to look at the front gates, waiting to spot a certain head of pink hair. She didn't even realize that she had started to smile a bit at the thought of seeing him until she actually saw him through the throng of her other classmates. Before she could stop herself, she raised her hand to wave him over, only to stop with her hand raised when he looked over her way and then headed in the opposite direction towards Loke, Lisanna, and a couple other of his buddies.

Slowly, as if in a trance her hand fell to lay back on her lap and she turned back to the group she was sitting with, all of them were looking at them with curiosity. Instead of showing the pain that Lucy felt in her heart she gave a smile to Erza and Juvia, "hi, sorry about that, I'm Lucy!" she said cheerfully.

She had realized while talking to Natsu on the phone that she only had four contacts on her phone. Levy, Natsu, and Levy's parents and she wanted to change that. It seemed a perfect opportunity to Lucy now that Erza and Juvia were sitting next to her.

Even though they were all still looking at her a bit shocked they went along with it and Lucy began to really like the two girl's she was conversating with. She realized that maybe one day they would actually become really good friends, and that made Lucy smile turn genuine.

Much to all the girls dismay, the bell rang too soon, and they made plans to eat altogether at lunch that day, something Lucy was really looking forward too, it made her excited to know she had plans with other people aside from Levy. Before Lucy and Levy walked into the building she snuck a quick glance back through the crowd, looking for a certain spiky haired boy. Finding him walking between a very close Lisanna and a laughing Loke she sighed, 'so much for the plan' she thought to herself, hoping she didn't get sick throughout the day now.

As she took her seat in history class she couldn't help but let her eyes wander to the door, waiting to see Natsu. She knew it was wrong, but she couldn't help it, besides, looking wasn't wrong though, right? And there was definitely something to look at. She remembered him running by one day that week, it had been pretty hot out even though it was still early, and he had run by without a shirt, making Lucy's eyes bug out and her cheeks tinge pink as she let him see her and close the window quickly, where she ended up getting nothing done the whole rest of the day.

She hadn't realized she had been staring at the door the whole time she thought about Natsu shirtless until a snicker a few seats away made her blink and refocus. Just her luck, she had basically been caught ogling Natsu the second he walked in. With a blush she looked back down and hid her face behind her hair.

"Aw, how cute, it looks like the freak has a crush on Lisanna's man," one of Lisanna's lackeys snickered to another one. It caused Lucy to burn with anger and humiliation as the girl's talked about her loud enough for her to hear.

"And what the hell is she wearing? Does she think Natsu will look at her just because she's showing of her boobs?" the other one said loud enough for Lucy to hear as they laughed.

Lucy's face flamed and she kept her head down in embarrassment. She had definitely not worn the shirt because of its lowcut, and especially not for Natsu. She had chosen one of her favorite shirt's, one that Levy had gotten for her from Hot Topic, it was the characters from the ice skating book she loved so much.

'I should have just worn a sweatshirt' she muttered to herself in her head, letting out a sigh.

"No, you shouldn't have, don't listen to what other people think of you," came a voice next to her shoulder.

She turned quickly and saw Natsu leaning over her shoulder, speaking close to her ear. Lucy hadn't even realized she had said it out loud and she blushed at the proximity of Natsu. He smelled good, like fire and smoke, but not cigarettes, thank goodness.

Natsu gave her a soft smile and sat next to her, appearing to have finally remembered the plan that they had made the week before. Any chance they could get they were going to stand close to each other or sit next to each other, that way, in case something happened that made them leave each other for too long they would be alright for a while before they started to feel sick again.

Once class started she took out the book she had gotten at the bookstore they day Natsu found out and read, forgetting about everything else and getting lost in the glory of the Titan's and Eren's love for Levi and vice versa.

!

The rest of her morning classes went along uneventfully, and Lucy found herself actually getting excited about sitting with Levy, Juvia and Erza at lunch. It made her smile as she watched the clock in her last class before lunch, desperately wishing it could go faster.

Finally, the bell rung, and Lucy shot out of her seat quickly, heading to her locker with a small skip in her step. She had never felt like this before and it made her really happy to think she might actually have two more friends. Her feet seemed to carry her through the halls without thinking and she crashed into something solid, something that wrapped their arms around her as she fell backwards, stopping her from falling.

Snapping out of her daze she looked up at the person that had caught her. It was Loke, the most popular guy at her school and the basketball captain. He was looking down at her as if he had just seen her for the first time, not as if they had been at the same school for years. She rolled her eyes and tried to push herself away from him, however his grip only tightened.

"Thanks for the catch Loke, sorry about bumping into you," she said politely and looked away, a hint of pink dusting her cheeks in embarrassment as she realized people were openly staring at them.

"Who are you?" Loke whispered, unable to look away from her face even as she looked away.

A flicker of irritation passed over Lucy's face at the question. "Lucy Heartfilia, we've had a class together every year since freshmen year, Loke" she shot back, squirming in his tight grip. She had finally snapped back to her regular self, having been lost all day from the excitement of making new friends.

"You would think I'd remember such a beautiful name," Loke mumbled, giving Lucy a dazzling look that only seemed to piss her off more.

"Loke, let go of me," she hissed, looking around to see if anyone would help, but they all stood rooted, looking shocked. 'Great' she thought irritated at her classmates and Loke. To her surprise, Loke didn't let her go and instead openly ogled her, making Lucy feel slightly sick to her stomach.

"I'd do as she says, Loke" a new voice growled from beside Lucy, making both Lucy and Loke turn their heads.

Lucy gasped to see a very pissed off Natsu standing next to her, his fists were clenched, and his eyes narrowed into slits as he stared at Loke. She could sense the anger he felt, thanks to the bond, and it made her eyes widen in shock as she looked at the angry boy next to her.

To everyone's surprise, Loke let go and backed away with his hands up in surrender, he wasn't known to back down from a fight, especially over a girl. Lucy looked between the two boys and started to back away, trying to go unnoticed and slip through the crowd unnoticed but Natsu swung his head quickly over to her before she could disappear.

Striding over to Lucy quickly he caught her hand, intertwining their hands to everyone's shock, even Lucy's as she felt the now familiar tingles start up in her hand as they touched. She looked up at Natsu about to argue when she saw and felt the protectiveness for her in his eyes and deep within her gut.

"Don't you dare touch her again. She's mine," he growled and stormed off leading Lucy through the crowd that parted to let them go through as they stared at the two people in shock, making Lucy's cheeks burn.

!X!

Alright guys! How was that? How will Lucy react to being claimed? And what will Lisanna say about them holding hands? How about Lucy's lunch? Find out next chapter! :P Also, go check out my new story called Gained or Lost. Its about Lucy being in Sabertooth instead of Fairy Tail and getting kicked out for losing the GMG's. I'm excited to take that one somewhere! Anyway let me know what ya'll thought of this chapter! Hope it was long enough. :)

~animebandmusic


	10. Chapter 10

Lucy followed Natsu through the crowded hallways until they were in one of the empty hallways. She was still to stunned by his declaration and the irritation in his voice to protest to him leading her. As soon as they were in the deserted hallway she regained control of her body and mind and yanked her hand out of his.

Lucy glared up at Natsu, opening her mouth to protest and yell at his behavior earlier when two strong, tan arms pressed against the wall on either side of Lucy's head. She hadn't even realized that Natsu had stopped her right next to a wall and she looked up at the boy's angry face. He leaned closer, so close their noses touched and he scowled.

"Why didn't you tell me when you found out I was your soulmate? Why did you let me continue to guess for weeks Lucy?" His voice cracked slightly on her name and he shut his eyes with a soft sigh, his breath brushing along her lips as she shuddered at the sensation. "Am I not good enough to be your soulmate?"

Without opening his eyes, he questioned her, the one thing she had been dreading he would ask her. Looking over his features she was about to answer when he opened his eyes back up to stare into her big chocolate ones. She realized that she could feel the heartache from Natsu, she seemed to easily be able to tell the difference between her feelings and his. She wondered if he could sense her feelings as well, knowing he'd feel despair, uncertainty, and heartache if he could.

Natsu looked like he was waiting for an answer, however she couldn't give him one. Turning her head to the side she took a deep breath. "Natsu, I wish for you to let me g-" The rest of Lucy's sentence disappeared into Natsu's lips as he kissed her hard. Everything about the kiss felt so right, he tasted smoky and delicious. Lucy wanted to melt into the kiss, and almost did until she heard a voice next to her. Her back tensed even more than it already was and since she couldn't move back away from Natsu anymore, she shoved him off hard.

!

Natsu stumbled back shocked, he was so sure she was about to start kiss him back. He would have bet money on it in fact, it had just felt so right. He had felt her uncertainty and sadness, without thinking he had kissed her to try and make those emotions go away. He just hadn't expected the brunette to nearly kiss him back and then push him away just as quickly.

He looked at Lucy, prepared to see an angry glare towards him or for her to start screaming. Instead he noticed she was looking past him, something that confused him, and he turned to see what it was she was looking at.

"Crap," he mumbled under his breath when he noticed a certain fair-haired girl with her arms crossed and a sneer on her glossy lips.

"Well, well, well," Lisanna said dryly, looking slightly like a villain in a fairy tale. She smirked and walked forward, closer to both Natsu and Lucy. Expecting her to face Natsu he braced himself. However, he was surprised when she turned her attention to Lucy, who still stood rooted to the wall that he had pressed her against.

"Look here, boobs," Lisanna said with one of her signature sneers. "Just because he kissed you doesn't mean anything, I mean he kisses me all the time, and ours are way more heated, so don't start thinking you're all high and mighty now, got it?"

Natsu's fists clenched as Lisanna spoke to Lucy. Lucy merely nodded and looked away, muttering something that neither Lisanna nor I could pick up. "What was that, slut?" Lisanna asked stepping closer.

Lucy looked up with a hard expression on her face. Natsu was surprised to see she was looking directly at him rather than Lisanna. He could feel her anger and disappointment with the help of the bond, making his head tip a bit in confusion. Squaring her shoulders, she gazed steadily at Natsu and spoke again, louder than he or Lisanna had ever heard her voice.

"I said, 'don't worry I don't want your sloppy seconds anyways.'" With that Lucy stalked off, leaving a pissed off Lisanna and a stunned and hurt Natsu in her wake. He watched her leave and took a step to go after her when something latched onto his arm. He looked down irritated to see Lisanna looking up at him with a satisfied smile on her face. Natsu glared down at Lisanna and pushed her off him.

"Leave Lucy and I alone, Lisanna," Natsu growled and walked away, leaving Lisanna to watch after him, her mouth agape and a scowl on her pretty face.

!

Lucy didn't understand how she had so much courage to stand up to both Lisanna and Natsu and then walk away from them. In fact, as she walked away she was trembling. She could feel the glare Lisanna shot to her back and the desperate, broken look Natsu gave her. When she turned to leave the hallway, she had glanced back through her brown hair to see Lisanna hanging onto Natsu's arm while looking up at him with a smile and Natsu was looking down back at her.

Just like that she was forgotten, she threw up a wall that she had been working on throughout the week to keep Natsu away from her feelings and walked to the lunchroom. She nearly went and hid out in the library instead, but the promise she had made to her two new friends was more important than her shame and embarrassment.

!

Walking into the lunchroom she stopped at the doorway when everyone turned to look at her, whispering and openly staring at her making her look down at her feet. "Lucy!" She heard her name called and looked up to see Levy, Erza and Juvia waving her over. Desperately ignoring the whispers and stares she hurried to sit next to Levy, blushing madly. Without taking her eyes off her lap she said hello to the group.

"So, Lucy we heard about your run in with Loke earlier," Levy said, looking over at the brunette with sympathy as the other two girls nodded. "Did Natsu really say you were his?" Juvia asked, clasping her hands together with a small squeal when Lucy nodded embarrassed.

"Wow," Erza commented, nodding her head in approval, "what a valiant move for Natsu to do."

Levy nodded, and Lucy just continued to look down before she sighed, "that's not all," she said looking up at three girls who looked at her expectantly.

Even though Lucy had just met the other two girls she felt confident to tell them and leaned closer to relay the things that had happened after Natsu took her away. She told them everything that happened, including the kiss, which Levy had gasped and out her hands to her mouth for.

Once Lucy was down she was blushing brightly, and they were all looking at her shocked. "Lu, you really said that to Natsu and Lisanna?" Levy asked, eyes widening even more at Lucy's nod. Then out of nowhere, Levy started laughing loud, causing people at nearby tables to stare. Levy wiped the tears from her eyes and even Erza and Juvia had let out a small chuckle. "I cannot believe you told off Lisanna." Levy said between laughs as they slowly settled.

"Yeah, it was pretty shocking to hear from someone so shy," came a familiar voice from behind her as the bench shifted a bit as the weight of the person settled next to her. She glanced over, already knowing she would see a mop of pink hair and a wide cheeky grin.

"What do you want?" She asked glaring at the pinkette while scooting closer to Levy, who Lucy had realized, had gone quiet along with Erza and Juvia, and most of the lunch room she had noticed.

Natsu's eyes flashed for a second and she sensed a small moment of hurt from him, making her frown. "I wanted to make sure you were ok, Lisanna was just trying to be mean." Natsu's hand went and scratched the back of her neck and Lucy said a silent thank you that she had been able to hole up her emotions as she felt the now familiar feeling of hurt and anger flash through her.

"Leave me alone, Natsu." Lucy said desperately, adding a bit of pleading to her voice and her face.

'Does she really not like me at all..?' Natsu's voice said, but Lucy was sure he hadn't spoken. She stared at the pinkette with her mouth open.

"W-what did you say?" Lucy asked him quietly making him look at her in confusion. The girls sitting next to her gave her the same look as Natsu shook his head. "I didn't say anything." Natsu replied, making the blonde's heart sink in despair.

So, because they had kissed, the bond had grown closer, and now she could hear Natsu's thoughts. She was pretty sure he could hear hers too and sighed while looking back down at the table in front of her.

"Lucy," the tenderness in Natsu's voice made her tense and she felt a hand touch her arm. 'Please don't let her push me away in front of all of these people.' Natsu's thought came desperately into her mind, making her frown.

Instead of pushing him away she ignored him and turned to talk with her friends again as they stared wide-eyed at her. With only a bit of hesitation they continued talking, trying to add Natsu into the conversation as he held her arm softly.

'I guess this is better than nothing with her.' He thought to himself, making Lucy turn to look at him, he glanced at her wide-eyed and she could hear him ask himself if he had said it out loud in a confused voice. She couldn't help it, she put her hand to her mouth and laughed loud enough for other people nearby to stop again and give their group a glare. Lucy, for once, didn't care, she was so emotionally drained that she just let herself laugh, ignoring the looks she got from Natsu and her friends as well.

When she had finally settled down the bell rung, much to her friend's disappointment, they had wanted to find out what Lucy was laughing so hard at. As they said goodbye, it occurred to Lucy that Natsu hadn't left her side and she looked up at him. "Well, goodbye," she said awkwardly and went to tug her arm away from him.

Natsu held tight and pulled her flush against him making her anger spark, as well as her embarrassment. She blushed and looked away from him to avoid eye contact. Natsu had other ideas and he grabbed her chin to make him look back at her. "I'm not going to apologize for kissing you." He said, his voice rough and low, making Lucy shiver a bit as she tried her hardest to avoid eye contact. It didn't work so she nodded once and Natsu let her go. Lucy turned away quickly and left, not saying anything back to the pinkette.

!

Several days had passed since the kiss and the problem with Natsu had occurred. Every time she thought about it, she blushed or put her hand to her lips. She was very grateful she had taught herself how to mentally block Natsu from her mind, because now that they had shared a kiss there was nothing else on it.

Levy had tried desperately to get her to tell her what had been so funny, and finally Lucy told her that she could hear Natsu's thoughts, making Levy gasp and blush slightly. Lucy smirked, knowing she was wishing she could do that with a certain black-haired, tough guy that came over all the time.

To Lucy's surprise, Gajeel was actually a cool guy and Levy's eyes sparkled every time she even thought about him. It made Lucy smile to know her best friend was so happy. Though there were times that Levy tried hard to include Lucy into something that she wasn't meant to be in. Lucy knew she meant well but she could never accept. She didn't want to ruin her and Gajeel's time together.

After the day of the kiss, Natsu kept a bit of distance, however during lunch he would sit by her and talk and interact with the same friends she did. She didn't mind it, to her surprise, but still, she kept the walls she had spent years building up.

!

It had been a week since the kiss, and Natsu had minded his personal space, to Lucy's surprise, even though he still sat next to her at lunch, they would only accidentally touch hands once in a while, or brush arms, which Lucy could handle.

Although hearing his thoughts was slowly cracking her walls. She would often tell himself to stop staring even though she was pretty, or not say something stupid to embarrass himself. It had made her smile more times than she had liked to admit.

They were in history one day, a little more than a week later, when Natsu thought about the question, Mr. Gildarts had asked, he wondered if he had gotten correct and Lucy looked over and replied that he had. Both her and Natsu had stared at each other in wide eyed shock. Lucy had slipped up, she couldn't believe she had messed up so badly.

"I didn't say that out loud, I know for a fact I didn't." Natsu whispered to her. She looked away and blushed brightly, hiding behind her dark hair like a curtain. 'Lucy, can you hear,' a skeptical voice came into her head and before she realized what she was doing she had turned to look over at Natsu with a slightly wide-eyed expression on her face.

Natsu nodded at her reaction and ignored her for the rest of class, making Lucy feel terrible. For some reason, her plans of never falling for someone were slowly slipping out of her grasp so long as Natsu was nearby. And she focused on the board for the rest of class.

She had planned to wait out Natsu after class but it was obvious that he was doing the same thing, so she sighed and got up, leaving quickly as Natsu rushed to put his stuff in his backpack. Lucy didn't give him any time to catch up and quickly rushed through the crowd, making the pinkette clench his fists in irritation as she watched her brown ponytail disappear.

During the rest of the morning classes, Lucy avoided going anywhere she thought Natsu might be, easier said than done since he was looking for her everywhere. She wasn't sure what she would do at lunch but didn't have time to think about that when she saw him waiting at her locker.

With a sigh, she knew she had to put her books away, she walked up to her locker, putting in the combination without acknowledging the boy next to it.

He sighed in irritation as he waited for her to say something to him. When he realized that wasn't going to happen he slammed his hands up, trapping her in his arms like the day they had kissed. Only this time the noise of the lockers made her flinch and he softened his gaze when she turned to him.

"Why didn't you tell me? How long has it been? Was it after we kissed?" Natsu questioned the brunette and after the last question she nodded softly. "Why didn't you tell me? Why don't you want me to be your soulmate?" Natsu asked again. Lucy looked up at him with silent tears beginning to pool in her eyes. Natsu cursed himself and ducked his head with a heavy sigh.

Releasing his hands from the lockers he took a step back and looked back up at the pretty brunette.

"Go on a date with me!" he nearly shouted, making a few people nearby turn to watch in shock. Lucy had a look similar to them on her face as she looked at Natsu. "Please! I swear, if you have a bad time… I-I'll leave you alone for good… I promise." Natsu's voice cracked as he said it knowing it would break his heart if she actually didn't have a good time. Gathering up whatever left of the courage that was slowly dissipating, he shut his eyes and shouted, "Will you, Lucy Heartfilia, please go on a date with me!"

!X!

You guys! I'm so sorry its been a while! I had so much going on! Anyway I know it's not a very long chapter but I'm thinking about ending this one soon. Let me know what ya'll think of that, and what you thought of this chapter. I also uploaded a new chapter of Gained or Lost so it would be very appreciated if you could go check it out! Thanks :)

~animebandmusic


	11. Chapter 11

Lucy's eyes were the size of golf balls as they bulged from her eye sockets. She looked around the crowded, and silent hallway. It was filled with hundreds of pairs of eyes all staring at the two of them in shock. Natsu still stood in front of her with his head dropped and his eyes and fists shut tight.

Lucy wasn't sure what to do. Every fiber of her being screamed at herself to run away, everything but her legs of course, which felt like they had been glued to the school's hallway floor. Her mind was still processing what Natsu had said, 'what do I say to him? In front of all of these people too?' she looked at the boy in front of her and felt herself begin to nod.

Natsu still had his head downcast to the ground and Lucy could see that he was shaking slightly in his clenched fists, making her heart clench slightly for him. Even though she was already nodding she spoke out for the pinkette, her voice cracking at the soft-spoken word, "yes."

Natsu's head shot up and his eyes opened as he looked at the nodding brunette. With a sigh of relief, he smiled for the first time in a while. He couldn't believe she had agreed. "Thank you, Lucy!" He exclaimed, grabbing her hand quickly and giving it a squeeze. "I'll pick you up on Friday night at 7!" With that he ran off before Lucy could change her mind.

Lucy watched as the spiky locks of pink disappeared through the still staring crowd. She flushed and looked down at her feet as people continued to stare and begin to whisper curiously. She had two days before her date with Natsu. Surely, she could get through it and then it would be over, and Natsu would leave her alone and she could get back to living her lonely life, well with a few more friends in it.

!

The rest of the day went by uneventfully, aside from people looking and whispering, which she still wasn't used to, and every time it happened she couldn't help but hide her face behind her dark hair.

When she got into the car with Levy she told her about what had happened at her locker. The bluenette squealed and clasped her hands to her chest. "Lucy! That's so cute!" Levy cried out happily as she laid her head back against the headrest of her seat.

Once Levy settled down they drove home, the whole time Levy talked about what Lucy should wear on her date as the brunette stared out the window of the car and watched the scenery. She couldn't believe she had said yes. The crazy pink-haired boy was slowly chipping away at her walls, making her nervous more than she thought possible.

!

The next few days went by in a quick blur and Lucy couldn't recall anything she had thought about other than the date. She had told Juvia and Erza about it as well, making the two females act the same way Levy had, making Lucy laugh a bit. She could see now why they had all become friends. They had made plans to all go to Levy and Lucy's house after school, so they could help her get ready.

Which was where they were now, sitting on Lucy's bed rummaging through her closet to look for the perfect outfit. Levy was busy rummaging in her closet with Juvia while Erza did her hair.

Lucy learned that Erza had already met her soulmate, that they had been friends when they were younger, making their marks and bond very special to them. Erza showed Lucy her mark, which was on her right arm, filled in with a deep pretty blue color. Lucy couldn't help but smile at the shining look that Erza got from talking about her soulmate, Jellal.

Levy and Juvia finally emerged from the closet victoriously. Since it was nearing summer they had grabbed a mini skirt, something Levy had bought her for her birthday once and Lucy had never worn it. The pretty blue skirt went well with Lucy's eyes and when they found a blouse of white and blue that matched exactly the girls knew they had picked just the right outfit. Pairing it with some knee-high boots that Levy had in her closet the look was complete and even Lucy had to admit she looked pretty good.

Erza had done her hair up in her signature half side ponytail but had added a blue ribbon that matched the skirt and blouse exactly. She had also added some mascara to the Lucy's eyes, making them look even bigger than they already were. The girls all nodded in approval and smiled at Lucy as she stared at her reflection.

It was 6:50 and Lucy couldn't help but watch her clock as she waited for the time to change. At 6:58 there was a knock at the door and Levy had called out that she was getting it. Lucy stood in the middle of her room panicking until Erza and Juvia came in and grabbed each of her hands, leading her down the hall to the top of the stairs.

!

Natsu had been talking to Levy and answering questions that only an overprotective mother would ask. It made Natsu nervous but happy that Lucy had someone like that to look after her. He didn't know why she lived with Levy or where her parents were at but he knew he could ask her later on tonight, hopefully.

He was so busy listening to Levy go on about not doing anything to hurt Lucy that he only looked up at the sound of a throat clearing. When he finally did look up he swore his breath and his heart stopped. Lucy always looked beautiful, he knew that, but now… there was no real words to describe her. She looked like an angel, something unreal and Natsu couldn't help but stare.

!

Lucy had to admit, dressed in a black button-down shirt, jeans and his signature scarf, his unruly hair sticking up in different directions made him look even better. She smiled uncertainly at him as he continued to stare at her. 'Do I look that bad?' she thought to herself.

She jumped at the sound of a voice replying in her head. 'No, crap, you look… wow, Luce, you look incredible.' She could hear the hesitance and the shock in his voice through her mind and she blushed brightly.

Levy, Erza and Juvia stood their awkwardly as the two teens stared at each other not saying anything. With another clearing of her throat Erza stepped down past Lucy who was still a few steps up the stairs and pulled her hand a bit. "Well, we'll see you when you get back. Natsu, I trust you to take of her." Erza glared at Natsu, making him gulp audibly and nod mutely.

As soon as they were out of the house with the door shut the two looked at each other awkwardly and Natsu gave a tiny half smile as he led her to his truck. He helped her up into the passenger seat and shut the door for her, climbing into the driver's side he turned to look at her as he started the truck. "You really do look amazing," he said finally voicing the thought he sent her before.

Lucy looked at her lap and blushed brightly at his words, "thank you," she replied softly, "you look nice yourself."

Natsu gave his signature grin as he drove to their destination. Lucy looked around curiously, noticing that they weren't going to the shopping district where the theatre and other date-like things were. Even though she had never been on a date before she knew by reading books that people usually went to places like the movies or dinner.

She looked over at Natsu and saw the mischievous grin on his face. "Where are we going?" she questioned the grinning boy. Natsu just chuckled and shook his head. "It's a surprise."

Lucy shook her head and smiled a bit. She had decided earlier on that day that she was going to relax and act like a normal human without baggage would. To give Natsu a fair chance, she had reasoned, even though she knew there would never be a second date.

Natsu pulled into an empty lot, making Lucy look around in confusion. She was about to voice her confusion when he parked the truck and jumped out, rushing around to open her door. He held out a hand to help her down from the truck, which she accepted and hopped out.

Natsu grinned happily and led her to a rather large grassy hill. She was still really confused and again almost said something when she gasped, and her words caught in her throat.

On top of the grassy hill was a checkered blanket with plates and a basket, it was a picnic and her heart fluttered. She looked at Natsu who had rushed over to the blanket to fix some things. Natsu looked up and grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck embarrassed. "Is it too much? I thought we'd have dinner on this hill, and I remember in the dream we were in you were looking up at the stars…" Natsu's head tilted up as his voice trailed off and even though the sun was still just slightly setting there was the North Star shining up in the purpling sky.

Lucy was stunned, too shocked for words, she nodded, unable to speak as she looked out at the setting sun. "T-this is perfect." She breathed out, touched that he had remembered such a detail.

Natsu blushed and smiled happily at her expression and served them dinner as they watched the sunset together. "We'll have dessert later," he said as they sat, with their bellies full of the sandwiches that Natsu had prepared. Lucy could only nod silently, and she watched as the sun went down.

Only ten minutes had gone by and already the world around the two had gone dark. To Lucy it was as if a lightbulb had slowly faded and died out, leaving behind only a few little stars in the sky as the moon rose behind them. Lucy tried to count the stars as they sat there. Neither one of them said anything, and yet somehow the quiet moment was even better than if they were talking. She took a small glance over to Natsu as he stared up at the scenery above him.

Even in the darkness she couldn't help but notice just how attractive he was. Whoever did the whole soulmate giving thing had definitely liked her because he seemed to be just what she liked in a guy. Too bad they also gave her the experience of a true soulmate pair going to hell, she frowned slightly at the thought and forced herself not to think about it.

!

Natsu had noticed Lucy staring at him and he smiled inwardly. He could only hope that the date was helping with her thoughts on him and she would at least give him some kind of chance after this. He stared up at the stars and let her look at him, noticing that she was lost in thought. When he looked back over at her she had a frown on her face, making him frown, he wanted to put that beautiful smile back on her face.

!

"What constellation is that?" Natsu's voice drew Lucy from her thoughts and she followed his arm up into the stars. She smiled as she saw what he was pointing at. "That's the constellation Canis Minor, Nikora. Some people call it the Lesser Dog," she blushed as she rambled on excitedly, happy he had pointed out one of her favorite constellations., "although I like to call it Plue." She smiled and blushed up at the constellation realizing just how weird she sounded.

With a nervous laugh she glanced over to see Natsu staring at her with a look of wonder on his face. "Ah, sorry, he's just one of my favorite constellations." She blushed again and smiled nervously.

Natsu was quick to shake his head, "no, I like seeing you talk about them, your eyes light up just like the stars themselves. You act like they're actual beings." Natsu looked at her and blushed slightly, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck in embarrassment.

Lucy could only stare at him in surprise, her eyes were wide and curious as she tipped her head slightly to the side. Something inside her snapped and she couldn't help herself. She leaned forward, surprising the blushing Natsu when her lips connected with his shocked ones.

Instantly the two melted together in the passionate, yet nervous kiss shared between the two. Lucy's hands stayed in her lap but Natsu's went to the sides of her face, cupping the soft skin on her cheeks in his large callused hands. She couldn't help but enjoy the kiss, she knew in the back of her mind that it was wrong, that something bad was going to happen but at that moment, as their mouths moved together in perfect rhythm as if made for each other, she knew it was the right thing to do.

!

Natsu had one thought on his mind as he felt Lucy's lips connect to his. 'Holy shit she kissed me?' He couldn't help it. He couldn't believe it, Lucy was kissing him! And he be damned if he wasn't going to kiss her back. Her lips were really soft, and she tasted like strawberry. He smiled inwardly at the thought.

!

They pulled back from each other, breathless and blushing. Natsu tilted his head and Lucy kept her eyes shut as she felt his forehead press against hers. She blushed brighter and slowly opened her eyes, looking directly into bright onyx eyes. Natsu smiled at her and they slowly pulled apart from one another all the way. Lucy stared at him in a slight daze and then looked away finally blinking back into reality.

'Oh my god, I kissed him,' she sat back down away from him and looked at her lap.

"Wow, that was unexpected." Natsu said with a happy grin, "Good, but unexpected." He smiled again at her, giving that heart stopping grin of his that made her stomach flutter. But there was no way he would ever know that.

'That was a mistake, I should never have done that, oh my god now what?' Lucy inwardly panicked, unable to look at Natsu. Natsu noticed something was wrong and reached to touch her arm but she moved away and stood up. "I have to go." She said in a hurry and took off down the hill, as she ran she called Levy to come pick her up.

!

Natsu was still rooted where he was, finally after snapping out of it he got up and turned around to see Lucy already down the hill. "Wait! Lucy!" He shouted as he started to run after her.

 **!X!**

 **Alright I am so sorry that it's been taking so long to write this story! I have been busy... I watched and finished the anime Haikyuu! If ya'll haven't seen it I totally recommend it! It's now my favorite show! Anyway I'll be updating my other story Gained or Lost ASAP so keep an eye out for it as well. I'll be finishing this story up pretty soon and I'll need something else to write so lay it on me, it can be another anime or show, I've seen a lot and love watching more, just ask my best friend, I wrote her a fanfic for her birthday and ended up having to watch the anime before I wrote it, her birthday was two days away so I had to do it pretty quick. Alright, so this one's pretty short but has quite the fluff so I hope you guys like it!**


	12. Chapter 12

Lucy looked back over her shoulder to see Natsu running after her. Her mind froze as she thought of that night, her father saying nearly the same thing as she ran out the door of their small apartment.

She ran faster down the street, begging Levy to pick up as she called the bluenette again. She could hear footsteps getting closer to her. It reminded her of all the nightmares she had after the incident.

!

 _"_ _Lucy, wait! I'm not going to hurt you!" Lucy's father called out as he chased after her, the bloody knife still clenched in his clammy palm._

 _Lucy runs down the stairs and out to the street, she could hear his footsteps gaining on her as he neared her. She could only shut her eyes and pray that she could outrun her father. 'Where was everyone? Why didn't the notice a girl being chased down the street by a man with a knife? Why can't I scream for help?' Lucy's mouth opened to scream, only nothing came out, not even a whisper._

!

Lucy was screaming though, she was hunched over on the sidewalk screaming in sheer terror. Her legs drawn up around her chest and her eyes were shut tight as she held her head in her hands. She was shaking uncontrollably and people in cars around her were slowing down to stare.

She didn't care, in fact she didn't even realize what was going on. All she could think about was that nightmare. That horribly nightmare that was somewhat a reality. Even though her father hadn't chased her down the street with a knife he had still killed her mom, still tore away the only love Lucy had ever known, shattered it into a million pieces, ultimately shattering Lucy as well.

!

Natsu heard Lucy's screams after losing her around a corner he ran to her, thinking she was in danger. He could feel the terror and pain through their bond and was shocked at how strong it was. It made him freeze and double over for a minute before he pushed it away and hurried to Lucy's side.

!

Lucy was still in her mind, still replaying memories and nightmares that clashed and fought for which was reality and which wasn't, when she felt strong arms wrap around her screaming, trembling form.

"No! Please don't kill me! Don't kill me daddy! I'm sorry! I forgive you for what you did to mom! Don't kill me too!" Lucy screamed in desperation and she felt the arms that had wrapped around her disappear.

"Lucy! Lucy!" came a voice, nearly drowned out by her screams. The voice didn't sound like her dad, in fact it wasn't pleasant and made her screams die down, so she could hear it again. That voice was never there in her nightmares. Still trembling and her eyes completely puffy and swollen she looked up to see a pink-haired boy in front of her.

"N-Natsu…?" Lucy whispered, her voice shaky and raw from crying. Natsu sat there in front of her on his knees, staring at the brunette with wide, shocked eyes. She was still trembling as she recalled the what had been happening that night. She gasped as she remembered they had been on a date and she was running because she had kissed Natsu, not because she was running from her dad trying to kill her.

"Oh my god…" Lucy whispered as she stared down at her shaking hands, her eyes filling with new tears. She felt Natsu's arms wrap around her again and this time she folded herself up more and into his hold as she sobbed.

She could feel Natsu stroking her hair as he held her, whispering softly to her that it was alright. Lucy slowly stopped shaking and crying and let Natsu hold her a little longer before she pulled out of his warm embrace.

"You good?" he asks quietly, wiping away the tear streaks that ran down her cheeks. She nodded softly, knowing that her voice wouldn't work. Without hesitating Natsu stood up and bent down, picking Lucy up bridal style as he walked her back to his truck, not once did he speak a word to her.

He carried her to his truck and set her down in the passenger seat, kissing her eyelids and her cheeks softly before shutting the door and going to clean up their picnic. When he came back he wrapped her up in the blanket that he had brought and sat in the truck. She thought he was going to start it and just take her home, never going to speak to her again. However, he just sat there, waiting and Lucy soon realized he was waiting for her to talk.

With a soft sigh Lucy cleared her throat and looked down at her lap while she fiddled with her fingers. And so, Lucy began to tell him about her parents, how they lived in a mansion with servants, how they loved each other more than words could describe and how they were truly soul mates, destined to be with each other forever, or so she thought.

Lucy told him about how her father lost his job and they had to move, how he began to drink and become angry, or loving and scary. She explained that at first it wasn't so bad, but it got worse the longer he was unemployed. She told Natsu about her and her mom's plans and how he would hurt her mom, making her mom fear for her daughter's life. And finally, she told him about that dreadful night, the night she wished she had gone with her mom, away from this world and all the bad things in it.

!

Natsu listened silently, staring at the brunette beauty sitting in his truck wrapped in his blanket, as she relayed the terrors that she lived through her entire life. He couldn't even begin to imagine how it must have been, to witness that, to bear that in her mind every day, to carry that on her shoulders throughout her life.

He wanted to hold her, he could see that she was trembling again, and he could feel her sadness and pain through the bond that they shared. With words unable to form on his dry mouth he scooted over and enveloped her shaking form into his sturdy one. There was no way he was letting her go after knowing what he did now.

This girl, this incredibly strong, brave girl was his soulmate, something he would be grateful for till the end of time. And as they sat in his truck, his arms wrapped tightly around her body as she cried silently into his chest, he knew, there was no way things would ever go back to the way they were before, and there was no way he was ever going to give her up.

!

Lucy woke up in her bed, her eyes crusty, red and swollen still from having cried so much last night. She didn't remember coming home or even getting into her bed, and she was even more surprised to find she still wore her outfit from the night before. She wrapped the blanket around her more and shut her eyes to go back to sleep, having slept better than she had in years. She sniffed the blanket and opened her eyes back up, this wasn't her blanket.

It was Natsu's, he had put it around her last night. So why hadn't she given it back to him when she went in the house? 'Oh no…' she thought, throwing the blanket off of her as she shot out of bed. She rushed around the room looking for her phone, feeling it in her jacket pocket, which was hanging over her chair by her desk. She opened it to check her messages, noticing some from Levy last night asking why she had called and if she was alright. There was also one from Natsu, which she dared not open. One from Erza and another from Juvia, both saying that they would be over later that day to find out why she had fallen asleep crying on Natsu on their date.

Lucy groaned and flopped back onto the bed in despair. 'What a great way to never get a date again Lucy' she thought to herself, groaning as she clutched a pillow to her face and screamed into it. 'Especially since you're actually in love with the guy, and ya know, he's your soulmate.'

Lucy heard the door click open and tore the pillow from her face slowly as she wiped away her thoughts quickly, glad her mental barrier had been up so Natsu hadn't heard her. "Hey Lu," Levy said giving the brunette a sympathetic smile.

"How bad was it?" Lucy asked as she sat up, her face stricken and pale at the thoughts running through her head. Levy hurried over to sit next to her. "It really wasn't that bad! He thought you looked adorable sleeping in his arms. He said he would have let you stay there all night, but he thought you deserved some time to think."

Lucy's heart flopped at the words and she smiled slightly to herself. 'Ok, maybe it wasn't so bad…' she thought to herself. Levy looked at her curiously, "So? What happened last night?"

Lucy told her everything, from the picnic to the crying, she sounded like she was in a dream instead of reality and it made her smile again. Levy on the other hand stared at her in shock. "Wait, you told him? Oh my god Lucy! You're in love with Natsu!" She shrieked, and Lucy quieted her down quickly. "Levy! Hush! He does live right down the street you know!" She whisper-yelled, blushing madly when she didn't disagree with the blunettes words.

Levy clapped her hands and squealed happily, hugging the brunette tightly. "Oh Lucy! Im so happy for you! You of all people deserve this!" Lucy blushed and smiled a bit, sure she didn't trust Natsu all the way, but he had helped her last night, had heard her out and listened to her story without judgement or hesitation and stuck by her even after hearing about it. Besides, people shouldn't run away from their soulmates, right?

 **!X!**

 **Ok, I know, it's not long at all, I'm so sorry, but I wanted to get another chapter out to you guys and you know me, I love me a cliffhanger. So this story will be ending soon, but first, will Lucy tell Natsu she loves him or chicken out? How about a little Gruvia action? And what will Lucy do going back to school... She did cry on the side of the street, someone's bound to have noticed right? ;) Hehehe anyway! Happy Thanksgiving enjoy the short chapter! I'll post another one ASAP! Go check out my other story Gained or Lost too please as I just updated that one and its getting super interesting!**


	13. Chapter 13

Two days had gone by and Lucy found she was a bit excited to go to school, she was ready to see Natsu and tell him how she felt. She was still hesitant but nonetheless excited. Monday morning came much too slow for the excited brunette. She couldn't believe what she had planned to do that day. She was going to tell Natsu that she accepted him as her soulmate.

Lucy chose a really cute outfit, her favorite pair of jeans, and a cute starry blouse, paired with her favorite converse. She glanced in the mirror as she put her hair up into her signature style, a half side ponytail, leaving the rest of her straight brown hair to fall by her shoulders. She smiled to herself and nodded in approval feeling confident about her choice of clothing and the events to come.

!

Levy was surprised that Lucy had gotten up before her alarm. She was even ready to go before Levy was, something that never happened. She watched as her brunette friend smiled when she slid into the cars passenger seat. "Why are you so cheerful today?" Levy questioned.

Lucy shrugged her shoulders with a happy sigh. "I'm going to tell Natsu how I feel," she said with a smile as she glanced over at Levy. Her best friend stared at her with wide eyes, "who are you and what have you done with my best friend?" Levy questioned curiously. Lucy just shrugged her shoulders again and looked out at the scenery as they drove to school.

!

Lucy and Levy arrived at school with a lot of time to spare since they had both been ready on time. They met Erza and Juvia by the entrance and sat at their signature table, waiting for the bell to ring. No matter how hard Lucy tried to focus on what the girls were talking about her eyes and mind wandered, looking and thinking about the pink-haired boy.

Her eyes lit up as she saw a familiar head of pink in the crowd. Lucy stood up, causing her friends to look at her confused, but she paid them no mind and started to call out to Natsu. Her voice caught in her throat as she saw Natsu, a white-haired girl clung to his arm as he stared down at her with a smile. She hadn't realized that her hand had gone up until it slowly fell back down to her side.

Levy stood next to her and placed a comforting hand on Lucy's shoulder. 'They're just friend Lu," she said softly, but the blonde shook her head. Turning back to her friends she smiled a fake, light smile and grabbed her bag excusing her from the table before running to the restrooms.

!

Natsu sighed, feeling breasts push against his arm as cool arms snaked around his waist. "Hey baby," a voice purred in his ear.

"Hi Lisanna," he said politely as he walked into the school's courtyard. The white-haired girl stared up at him adoringly and he looked down at her, smiling apologetically before pulling his arm away from her.

"Sorry Lisanna, but you know I have a soulmate." He told the girl who pouted her lip and crossed her arms. "Does that really matter?" she purred and grabbed onto his arm again. Natsu shook his head and pushed her away gently not wanting to make a scene.

Lisanna, on the other hand, had other plans and her eyes flashed angrily as she stood in front of the pink-haired boy. "You have got to be joking right!? I mean look at me! Any guy would kill to have me! Soulmate, or not!" Lisanna screeched gesturing over her body suggestively.

Natsu rolled his eyes and shook his head slowly, "not this guy," he said and walked away, leaving the short-haired girl to stare after him in shock. Natsu smirked to himself, pleased with how he had handled the situation and looked around the courtyard to find Lucy.

He had been dying to talk to her all weekend since he had dropped her off after their date. He had sent her a message but wasn't sure if she had read it or not, seeing as it still only said ' _delivered_ ,' he may have checked his phone repeatedly that weekend.

He looked for the pretty brunette, spotting her friends at one of the tables nearby and headed over, seeing Levy, who Lucy lived with. 'Surely Levy would know where she's at,' he thought with a grin.

He strolled over to the table and opened his mouth to ask where Lucy was when he was met with fierce stares from all three girls. Natsu shrunk back and blinked in confusion. All the girls looked seriously pissed and he tried to recall anything he might have done to make it this way. "Wha-?" Natsu started, getting cut off by the redhead, Erza if he remembered correctly.

"Natsu, do you enjoy messing with women's feelings?" the angry redhead growled as she stood from her spot at the round table. The pinkette's eyes widened in surprise and he took a step back, shocked at her words.

"What are you talking about?" he said, confusion showing throughout his features as he glanced around the table of glaring teen girls. "We _all_ saw you with Lisanna earlier…" Erza said, her eyes flashing as she spoke, implying more than just the three girls when she said the word 'all.'

Natsu's eyes widened and he cursed under his breath, knowing that the redhead meant that Lucy had seen it to. He clenched his fists and looked pleadingly at Levy, silently asking her where Lucy had gone.

"She's in the-," Levy was cut off by the bell, signaling the start of the school day. Natsu growled in frustration and hurried off, hoping to get to history class in time to pick the seat next to Lucy so he could explain himself.

!

Lucy had hidden herself away deep in the back of the library as she cried silently into her drawn up knees. She leaned against one of the back walls, making sure she wasn't noticed while she cried.

All too soon the bell rang, and she debated staying in the library through her first period, but decided against it when she remembered she had a test in history. With a sigh and a wipe of her eyes she stood and stretched slowly. She meandered slowly to her class, wanting to get there right before the bell rang so she wouldn't have to talk to Lucy. She was too upset about seeing him look at Lisanna like that after they had shared such a nice day on Friday.

Lucy stepped through the door just as the bell rang, making most of the students, one in particularly attempted to gain the brunettes attention as she hurried to her seat with her head down and her hair in her face.

"Psst…" someone whispered next to her, she ignored the pinkette and sighed, doodling on the page of her textbook since she had forgotten her reading book. A piece of paper landed on her table and she glanced at it, looking over at Natsu with a glare and a shake of her head before hiding the paper under her notebook without looking at it.

Another paper landed on her desk, this one had the words on the front and she scanned over them, ' _Please, let me explain, it's not what it looked like.'_ She glanced over at Natsu to see him giving her a pleading look and she sighed, shutting her eyes and writing a reply on her own piece of paper before handing it over to him.

 _'_ _It hurts Natsu, knowing what you do and then throwing it all away for Lisanna, I can't go through something where I get hurt. I know I've hurt you in the past when I didn't accept you as my soulmate at first, but you know why I did what I did.'_

Lucy drums her fingers on her desk, unable to stay still as she waited for Natsu to reply. A note flew onto her desk suddenly and she waited a few minutes before opening it up.

 _'_ _At first? Does that mean you do now?'_ Lucy looked over to Natsu, her face blooming with red as he stared at her expectantly. Lucy couldn't do anything but nod and smile lightly while dropping her barriers she had built up from Natsu as Natsu's eyes widen.

"Yosh! I'm all fired up now!" Natsu shouted jumping from his seat and threw his hand in the air. Lucy looked shocked as she watched the boy next to her. He was frozen with his hand in the air as he remembered they were in class.

Lucy put her hand to her mouth to hide her grin and keep a laugh at bay as she looked around at all of their shocked classmate's stares. Natsu grinned sheepishly and looked around, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment as his cheeks tinted red.

"Natsu Dragneel!" Mr. Clive shouted after recovering from the shock of the pink kid's outburst. Natsu stood up straighter, even though Lucy could see he was shaking a bit in fear. She looked down at her desk and realized the notes were still sitting out as Mr. Clive walked closer and she quickly threw her notebook over them, causing one to flutter to the floor in front of the teacher's feet.

Before Lucy could move to grab it, Mr. Clive reached down and picked it up, opening the crumbled piece of paper as he stood up straight again. He didn't even look at it, instead read out loud to the whole class, "It hurts Natsu, knowing what you do and then throwing it all away for Lisanna, I can't go through something where I get hurt. I know I've hurt you in the past when I didn't accept you as my soulmate at first, but you know why I did what I did."

Lucy's entire body felt like it was on fire as she stared down at her desk. The silence in the room was so bad they could hear the teacher next door talking. Natsu was still standing there next to their desks, his face scrunched up in what Lucy could only describe as disbelief and anger. Mr. Clive's looked back up, glancing between the two blushing teens.

"I-I am so sorry," he said quietly so the two students were the only ones that could hear him. Natsu nodded lightly but his eyes still held a bit of anger in them as he started hearing the rest of their classmates start to whisper.

"No way, they're soulmates?" "I thought he was dating Lisanna?" "Who is the freak he's soul marked with?" "She seems so weird." "He deserves so much better." Natsu's fists were clenching tighter in anger as he listened to the whispers of his classmates.

Lucy heard the whispers and shook, making Natsu look down at her with a frown. He stood straighter and stared at the teacher, with a calm voice he growled out, "I think you'll understand if I take my _perfect_ soulmate and leave now."

Guildarts had barely even nodded when Natsu grabbed Lucy's hand and dragged the stunned brunette out of the classroom and into the hallway. As soon as they were in the hallway a few classes down Natsu walked Lucy back into the wall and grabbed her face, pulling her in to kiss her deeply.

Lucy melted into Natsu and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back as their soul marks began to buzz. They pulled away as the sensation on their marks grew and they stared at each other wide eyed. It was clear both of them felt the same warm tingling sensation along their marks by the way they looked at each other. When Lucy lifted her hand, she gasped and stared at the light that shone from her mark. Natsu lifted his shirt sleeve, showing off the same light from his mark. They looked back at each other and smiled softly.

"Guess we really are soulmates," Lucy whispered out loud when Natsu rested his forehead on hers and they shut their eyes.

 **!X!**

 **Alright you guys sooooo this is it! The end of the story! I just want to say thank you all to the kind words y'all have said about this story and I really hope this was decent enough of an ending. Also, there will be an epilogue, since of course Gruvia must appear C: Have a nice day!**

 **~animebandmusic**


	14. Epilogue Part 1

_Epilogue_

Lucy walked down the hallway of her high school, clutching her books to her chest with a smile on her face. She looked through the crowds in the hallway and spotted a head of pink hair, smiling to herself she walked up to the boy leaning against her locker. This was Natsu, her boyfriend, her soulmate, her best friend.

Smiling Lucy stood on tiptoe to kiss Natsu's cheek. He startled awake as he had had his eyes shut and she giggled at him. He grinned down at her and grabbed her by the waist with one hand, not caring who saw as he leaned down to kiss her softly, tangling his fingers in her now blonde hair.

She had dyed it back to her natural color soon after her and Natsu had become 'official.' She had meant to surprise him by it and it made her smiling thinking back to how happy he had been when he saw her for the first time afterwards.

!

Natsu glanced down to see Lucy lost in thought with a happy smile on her face after they had pulled away from the kiss. He smiled as he looked at his beautiful girlfriend and then kissed her nose to bring her back. Chuckling as she blinked and looked up at him with a slight blush on her face.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they walked to lunch in the cafeteria, smiling in secret at all of the posters around school. They sat down next to each other and were quickly joined by Erza, Juvia, Levy, Loke and his girlfriend/soulmate, Aries. This group had quickly become some of Natsu's closest friends, aside from Gajeel and Gray back at his old school.

He was happy to know that his two buddies were going to transfer over to Fairy Tail High tomorrow and he was excited for his old friends to meet his new ones. He had talked his friends into switching school's a while back, something that was quite easy to do since Levy, Gajeel's soulmate, went here.

With his arm wrapped comfortably around Lucy he smiled as his friends talked and laughed, content to just listen while he looked at the time on his phone and looked over at Loke who nodded to him.

Natsu smiled and retracted his arm from Lucy who looked at him in confusion. He smiled down at her and looked back to Loke who also stood from the confused and shy Aries. They walked out of the lunchroom with the rest of the basketball club.

!

Lucy watched Natsu's retreating form and her curiosity and confusion only grew when the rest of the basketball team followed behind him out the doors of the cafeteria. She looked over at Aries, but she just gave Lucy the same look in return, shaking her head to signal she didn't know what was happening either.

"What was that all about Lu" Levy asked, glancing between the blonde and the cafeteria doors. Lucy shrugged her shoulders, trying to remember if Natsu had said anything about having practice today at lunch. But of course, nothing came to mind and she sighed before going back to eating her lunch, figuring he'd tell her about it later.

Even though the two soulmates could read each other's minds they thought it better to trust one another and only do it if asked, it left the couple always surprised and it made them both happy, which was why Lucy didn't read Natsu's mind at that moment to find out what was going on.

She was just finishing her lunch when the speakers crackled to life, bringing along with it the sound of music beginning to play. Everyone in the cafeteria quieted down and listened for some important announcement to be played. Instead, Lucy gasped as she realized her favorite song was playing, 'Last of Her Kind,' the cover version by Nightcore. (I recommend listening to it while you read this part.)

Erza, Juvia, Aries, and Levy looked at her, tilting their heads in confusion as Lucy held her hands to her mouth. She looked around the cafeteria and then heard the sound of the doors opening. When she turned her head, she saw that the basketball team was coming in one by one, all heading in their direction. They all held two roses and gave one to both Lucy and Aries as they took them stunned and out of words. As the last two roses were given to the girls the doors opened again and their boyfriends walked out, wearing something completely different than what they had left in.

Nastu was grinning from ear to ear and Lucy looked him over, he was wearing a jersey, not his regular one but another Fairy Tail High jersey. Loke was wearing the same thing and was grinning at Aries as they walked up to the table. With a slight blush on their cheeks they clapped their hands and a new song began playing over the speakers. This one was Aries favorite song, 'Sorry,' by Justin Bieber, Lucy couldn't help but smile and giggle a little as the pink haired girl looked up at her boyfriend with wide happy eyes.

Lucy and Aries watched as their two boyfriends and the rest of the team behind them began to move in time with the music. They seemed to be doing some poorly choreographed dance, with lots of shimmies and awkward moon walks. It was pretty obvious the whole school enjoyed it as they screamed and clapped in time with the music and even Lucy and Aries were smiling now, over the shock and just enjoying the show.

When the song ended the two boys in front spun around quickly and struck poses that were meant to be somewhat sexy, making girls around them scream and cheer and some even act as though they were feinting.

On the back of their jerseys, instead of numbers were letters and above them where the name of the teammate was supposed to be were Lucy's name on Natsu's jersey and Aries' name on Loke's. The letters below them were 'PR' on Natsu's and 'OM' on Loke's. Another teammate stood next to them with a question mark on his jersey.

Lucy and Aries looked over at each other as their faces broke into wide, heart stopping grins. Jumping up they hugged their boyfriends excitedly while nodding and telling them 'yes' over and over again. The two boys fist bumped, and the rest of the school clapped for the couples, although Lucy could hear some girls complain about how they wished their boyfriends asked them in such an elaborate way.

When Lucy pulled away from the hug Natsu brought her face up to his and kissed her passionately in front of the whole school, making the blonde-haired girl blush and hide her face in his chest when he pulled away. They sat back down and Levy, Juvia and Erza gushed over how adorable the whole thing was. Erza had proudly stated that she had gotten the whole thing on video, much to the boy's embarrassment.

!

The rest of the day went by uneventful, although several people whispered about what had happened during lunch when Lucy walked by, making the girl blush at all the extra attention. Now that Lucy had an awesome boyfriend, amazing friends, and a happier life in general, she was really looking forward to going to Prom with them all, whereas at the beginning of the school year she had been dreading the event knowing Levy would have drug her to it no matter how much she protested.

When Lucy got home she looked around for Levy, since Natsu and her had started dating she stayed and watched his practices and then got a ride from him, allowing themselves a few extra minutes of alone time together.

There was a note stating that Levy had gone out with Gajeel, and Lucy smiled. Natsu had told her that Gajeel and Gray, who she had meant briefly at the mall that day would be switching schools the day after and Lucy couldn't wait to see Levy's reaction. Natsu had told her Gajeel had wanted to keep it secret from the little bluenette and Lucy agreed wholeheartedly. With that Lucy grabbed dinner and headed upstairs to do some of her homework before she went to bed.

She was nearly done when she felt her mark buzz softly and looked at her right hand curiously. It only buzzed when she was touching Natsu, so she couldn't understand why it was buzzing now. She blinked and opened her mind to him, making sure everything was okay when she was bombarded with a shout in her mind, making her head pound. 'Lucy!'

With a groan she replied back quickly, 'what's wrong Natsu?' She glanced over at the clock on her bedside table and groaned again, she must have lost track off time while doing her homework, it was nearly 1am.

'Did we have homework for Guildarts?' Lucy hears Natsu's panicked voice in her mind and she rolls her eyes, slamming her head down on the table, which actually hurt more than she thought it would and she winced. 'Ow! What the? Why does my forehead hurt all of a sudden?' came Natsu again in her mind.

Lucy sat up straight again and blinked, 'where does it hurt Natsu?' She questioned curiously. 'Like right in the middle of my forehead, it feels like I banged it on something, but I swear I didn't!' he adds the last part quickly and Lucy smiles.

Her face goes serious again and she looks down at her arm with a shrug of her shoulders, _'it'll only hurt a bit'_ she thinks only to herself before pinching the skin on her right arm. 'Ow! What the hell is going on?' Natsu's voice appears in her mind once more and Lucy asks what's wrong this time. When he tells her, it feels as though he got pinched on his arm Lucy giggles softly to herself and then explains.

'That's so cool!' Natsu cries out in her head as she giggles again. Then Lucy feels a slight pain on her side, as if someone poked her a bit too hard and she gasps out loud. 'Did you feel it?' Natsu asks excitedly and Lucy nods before realizing he can't see her, 'yeah, it felt weird' she says to him softly. The couple say goodnight after a few more pokes and pinches, which resulted in Lucy giggling as it tickled more than hurt, and she got ready for bed.

Just as she was leaving the bathroom she heard Levy come up the stairs and Lucy gave her a knowing smile. Levy blushed and merely walked past giving Lucy a light shove against her shoulder as she laughed at her best friends embarrassed expression.

!

The next morning Lucy was excited to get to school, wanting to see Levy's reaction to Gajeel going to their school. She hurried Levy out the door for once and was giddily running through the parking lot and into the courtyard where she spotted the table her friends were sitting at.

Leading Levy over they sat down and said good morning to everyone. Lucy gave Natsu a light kiss and they smiled at each other preferring to say good morning to themselves in secret in their minds instead.

"Ugh, could you not do that weird mind talk think when you're around other humans," came a deep voice from behind the group and they turned to see Gajeel and Gray standing behind them smirking.

Lucy heard Levy gasp but someone else gasped as well, making the blonde turn her head back in confusion. She looked at her friends and noticed that Juvia was sitting their across from her, looking wide-eyed at Gray. When Lucy looked back at Gray she noticed that he was doing the same thing, only he had put his hand up on his chest. Lucy looked back to see Juvia stand up, since she was wearing a skirt, Lucy was able to catch sight of her Mark, now filled black, the same color of Grays hair.

The two stared wide-eyed at each other while the rest of the group watched in a happy stunned silence. It wasn't until Gray cleared his throat and walked over that Juvia seemed to be able to move. With a dashing smile Gray held out his hand to Juvia and she looked down at it in shock.

"Hi, I'm Gray Fullbuster, and you must be the girl of my dreams." Gray said with a smile that made Juvia flush deep red and her knees go slightly weak as she lurched forward. She nearly fell to the ground when Gray caught her and looked down at her with another dazzling smile. The bluenette was still lost in his eyes until she heard a bark of laughter and even Lucy blinked out of some kind of spell as she looked over at the culprits.

Natsu and Gajeel were bent over, hands on their knees as they laughed and chuckled until tears came out of their eyes. Gray glared at the two guys but didn't do anything else, he was still holding Juvia, who seemed unable to take her eyes off of his face.

Ignoring the howling boys Juvia finally spoke making Gray turn his attention back to her. "Juvia is pleased to meet you Gray-sama." Gray frowned slightly as he held the bluenette in his arms, "you speak in third person?" he couldn't help but ask and then hesitated, blushing brightly, "that's… really adorable."

Juvia's eyes shone brightly and she hugged Gray quickly exclaiming happily, "thank you Gray-sama for not making fun of Juvia like others have!" Gray frowned and hugged her again, already putting his arm around her protectively.

Lucy smiled at the two and knew that this was going to be the best year of high school ever.

 **!X!**

 **Alright, so I'm actually going to make this a two-part epilogue, which means the story is not over just yet! The next part of the epilogue will be Prom of course, who liked their way of asking cuz I know I did! XD Also, Lisanna's gonna give one more small go at Natsu which will be fun XP. If anyone wants to see anything personally in the epilogue? Maybe a third part to all grown up? Anything at all feel free to message me privately or comment! I'm happy to write it! Anyway, have a nice day and I'll see y'all soon with Epilogue Part 2!**


	15. Epilogue Part 2

Epilogue Part 2

Lucy and Levy opened the doors for their friends smiling at Juvia, Erza and Aries as the entered the room carrying their bags for their dresses and their shoes.

Prom was that night and all the girls had planned to leave from Levy and Lucy's house after they had all gotten ready. The girls gave their hugs hello and headed up into Levy's room, who had more makeup and other beauty products than Lucy.

They chatted and giggled while they put their dresses on. Everyone gasped at each other's dresses and clapped and nodded their heads in approval. Erza had bought a blue simple cocktail dress that sparkled in the light, and had a slit going up her leg, stopping at her knee. With her hair up in a classy bun, with a few strands of hair framing her lightly made up face, she was ready to go.

Lucy wore a pink dress that poofed out just above her knees. It had a pretty corset with lace, heart shaped top on it that slimmed down to her belly button and then fluffed out like a princess dress. It made Lucy feel like a cupcake, but she absolutely had fallen in love with the dress. It matched Natsu's hair perfectly. She also had kept her pretty natural, adding some pink lip gloss to her smiling lips. Her hair was curled into delicate waves that flowed down over her shoulders, some had been pulled back away from her face and it was clipped in the back with a pretty pink barrette.

Levys' dress was a cute black dress that puffed out at the hips slightly and had ruffles down to the floor. The body had gems and she had tied a cute thick ribbon along the stomach of it and then curled her hair putting her signature orange headband in it to keep her bangs out. She went for a bit more makeup, using a smoky eyed look that made all the girls 'ooh' and nod appreciatively.

Juvia had on a black, tight knee length dress it had sequins covering the entire dress making it shine like Erzas. Her usually curled blue hair was straightened so it laid over her shoulders in a feathery touch. She had also gone with a smokier eyed look, although she had used more blush to make her skin look less pale rather than using more makeup to darken her skin.

Aries had on a pretty floor length orange mermaid style dress. The back hung low enough down so that the small of the pink-haired girls back showed. She was extremely shy about wearing it, but the girls had all insisted she looked fantastic. She paired it with some light orange and brown eyeshadow and a small amount of blush. Her hair was left curled in its usually fashion with a pretty black butterfly clip.

The girls looked at themselves in the mirror and smiled at each other, staring happily at the reflections with pride and happiness. All of their dresses matched their boyfriend's hair, something that each of the girls were insanely happy and proud of.

!

The time finally arrived, and all the boys arrived at Levy and Lucy's house together, since Levy's parents had rented them a limo. They all wore nice suits and their ties matched the girl's hair, making them squeal or smile happily as the guys all blushed. It had been Loke's idea in the first place and they all went along with it, wanting to make their girlfriends happy.

After millions of pictures from Levy's parents the couples finally loaded up into the car. Their trip would be a lengthy one as the only ballroom available was in Hargeon. All the couples settled down and talked amongst themselves until a particular question came up.

"So Erza, we know how everyone else met but how did you and Jellal meet, I've known him since we started high school together and he never mentioned having a soulmate before?" Natsu asked as he wrapped an arm comfortably around Lucy's shoulders. Lucy smirked at the girl who now blushed as bright as her hair and told them what she had told Lucy when they had prepared for Lucy's first date. She noticed that Jellal looked over lovingly at Erza as he leaned and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Well, we were childhood friends. We met at a park one day with a bunch of other kids and just like that… we've known we were going to be soulmates nearly our entire lives," Erza glanced over at Jellal and her eyes sparkled with love and adoration. "Even though he once told me he was going to be married to someone else."

The whole limo got silent and Erza laughed softly while Jellal glanced down at his lap guiltily. He had a slight pink tint to his cheeks making Erza laugh even harder and she kissed his cheek. No one knew what to say to that and figured they should just let it slide, although the girls were dying to know what had happened, and even the boys seemed curious.

!

After the long limo ride the group finally reached their destination, pleased to be able to get out and stretch their legs as they glanced up at the nice hotel that their prom was being held at. Natsu and Lucy glanced at each other with wide grins on their faces, without thinking they held hands and ran through the doors of the hotel, hearing the music from the parking lot.

The rest of the group trailed behind, either laughing or shaking their heads at the happy soulmate pair that disappeared through the doors. They were all silently happy that the two of them had worked things out, even if after Lucy had accepted him as her soulmate it took a while for her to fully warm up to him.

They were all thrilled when Natsu and Lucy had confided in them about their relationship and were pleased to know that their friends were happy. When everyone was in the ballroom of the hotel they boys all went in search of a table they could all sit at while the girls squealed and awed over the decorations.

It was clear that someone had spent a lot of time, effort and money to make the place beautiful, and they couldn't help but admire the starry theme of the building. Lucy smiled happily as she glanced around at all the shimmering stars, she was in disbelief at how pretty the room was and even though it was crowded and noisy she felt she was all by herself, staring up at the stars with her mom again like she had when she was younger.

!

Levy smiled at all of the pretty decorations and found that, despite the decorations and the stunning people all around her she couldn't keep her eyes off of her sexy, badass boyfriend who was walking back over to her. Gajeel had whispered repeatedly into her ear the entire car ride that she was beautiful, making the bluenette's cheeks blaze as bright as Erza's hair.

Gajeel took her tiny hand in his and smiled down at her as he drew her into his big chest, resting his other hand on the small of her back and hers on his shoulder. "You really do look incredible tonight," he said loud enough so she could hear. She smiled and looked down at his chest as she blushed, she felt her chin be tipped up slowly and gently by a large hand, noticing the absence of one at her back and she looked up into Gajeel's dark eyes.

"I'm serious Shrimp," Levy frowned at the nickname and opened her mouth to defend herself, "I love you, Levy."

She stopped with her mouth agape, staring up at Gajeel with a wide-eyed, teary expression. It was the first time he had said it and he had used her first name too. Levy smiled up at Gajeel as she rested her head on his chest, "I love you too, Gajeel."

!

Juvia never took her eyes off of Gray, when he and the other boys left to go find them a table she could still make out his back or his raven colored hair through the crowd. It made her smile and she noticed quite a few girls were glancing his way. She stood up straighter as a proud smile graced her face when he turned around and made eye contact with her right away.

Gray walked over to her a swept her into his hold, pressing their bodies firmly together and making her blush. They hadn't known each other long, but already they knew everything about each other, their quirks, habits, dislikes and likes. Everything you could possibly know about someone, they knew about each other.

After the day they had met the pair had become almost inseparable and if you saw one, you would probably see the other one very close by. Most people at school had begun to refer to them as Gruvia, making the couple laugh happily when they talked about it to each other.

Gray smiled at Juvia and took her hand, winding her arms up and around his shoulders his fell to her hips. They stared and smiled at each other, knowing exactly what the other was thinking. They both smiled and together spoke softly so only they could hear, "I love you too."

!

Erza had nodded her approval of the building when they walked in, noticing that some things were off, and that people were dancing too proactively, per school rules, to the loud upbeat song that was playing when the group had come in. Some even wore inappropriate clothing, making the redhead glare in shame. She was about to walk over and tell one of the girls that her dress couldn't be clear and sparkly when she felt a strong hand grab hers and twirl her onto the dance floor and into their arms.

She forgot everything as she stared at her smiling soulmate and chuckled softly. Jellal was grinning as he looked at her and he shook his head, knowing already what the redhead had been about to do.

"Don't go ruining people's nights Erza, just let them have fun, let the chaperones take care of any problems that might appear. And have fun yourself." He grinned as the slow song came on and twirled her again knowing she loved to dance.

She threw her head back and let out a laugh and then a sigh as she began to relax once more. Erza could finally let loose and be herself, thanks to Jellal, he made her feel more open, more playful, more daring. She couldn't help but smile as she thought about everything they had been through since they had gotten together officially in middle school.

Their parents had insisted, even though they were soulmates, that they begin as friends and stay that way until they were older. It didn't take long to realize that they were definitely meant to be together and Jellal had asked her one day at lunch to be his girlfriend. Something she had immediately agreed to.

She glanced up at him as the slow song continued and she tilted her head to the side, gazing at the beautiful scar that ran down over his eye. He was perfect, in so many ways and she simply didn't know how to express it. Leaning up only slightly she surprised him with a soft kiss to the lips and smiled against his lips before she pulled away again. "I love you" she said happily, and in response, Jellal swept her up in another kiss.

!

Aries had always been very nervous in big crowds. This big of a crowd, with all the movement and loud noise was making her go into a panic attack. She looked over at the rest of the girls, but they seemed to be lost in their own worlds as they looked around the room as they arrived.

The upbeat song that was playing was nearly over and Aries looked around for Loke, frowning when she noticed that a slow song had begun, and she actually wanted to dance with her orange-haired, goofball of a soulmate. She spun around, looking all over for him and finally spotted his wild orange hair through the crowd. Weaving her way through she noticed that he was surrounded by girls, all squealing and asking him to dance.

One in particular was pressed tight up against him, making the usually frightened pinkette burn with anger. She walked over and slipped through the crowd to her boyfriend silently, one of the good things about being so tiny, shy and quiet. Aries had walked up just as Lisanna yelled, "wanna get out of here handsome?" over the music.

Loke looked shocked and slightly offended as the white-haired girl pressed herself against his large frame. He glanced up and his eyes widened, seeing his girlfriend standing there. A look of pure anger, something he had never seen before, nor did he ever wanted to see again on her tiny, innocent face.

Stomping over, Aries shoved Lisanna off of Loke with a force that shocked everyone around her. She turned on the white-haired girl with a glare, causing Lisanna's eyes to widen in shock. "Listen, I heard what you tried to do to Natsu and Lucy, and now you're going to try to do it with me and Loke? Seriously?" Aries scoffed and crossed her arms as something completely unlike her took over.

"Stay away from other people's men, it's disgusting and to be quite frank, the more you do it, the uglier you get, and how many times have you done it now? A hundred?" Aries looked her see through dress over and nodded slowly, "that seems about right."

With that she turned and kissed Loke in front of everyone, something that shocked even Loke as Aries never really liked PDA before and absolutely shied away from any physical contact outside of being alone. He couldn't help but return the passionate kiss though, pleased by his girlfriend's little fiery side.

Pulling away he glanced at his little pinkette, chuckling at her stunned expression and he knew she was thinking about the fact that she had just done that. "I love you," he said and kissed her again, leaving no time for her to say it back for the first time, let alone react at all.

!

Lucy smiled happily as she glanced around at all the shimmering stars, she was in disbelief at how pretty the room was and even though it was crowded and noisy she felt she was all by herself, staring up at the stars with her mom again like she had when she was younger.

"Have I told you yet how beautiful you look tonight?" came a sultry voice at her ear as hands wrapped around her waist. She clutched them and smiled, tilting her head back into the shoulder of her soulmate.

"Why no, I don't believe you have." Lucy smiled and turned around in Natsu's arms. She looked him up and down appreciatively and smiled. "And have I told you how handsome you look all the time?"

Natsu grinned down at her and kissed the tip of her nose making her flush and smile happily. She wrapped her arms around his neck and they began to sway to the slow song that had just begun. She rested her head against his shoulder and could feel the buzz of her soul mark as she threaded her fingers into Natsu's soft pink hair.

"Have I told you that pink's my favorite color?" she asked the pinkette as she played with his hair and they swayed to the music. Natsu smiled upon hearing her words and grumbled but didn't really reply.

Lucy pulled back and looked up at him, her eyes twinkling in the light of the ballroom. "Have I told you I love you?" Natsu finally replied back after staring into Lucy's eyes long enough. He grinned as her eyes widened and her cheeks grew pink. Her face was slack and in shock and he couldn't help but chuckle slightly. He would definitely tell her that all the time if that was the reaction he would get.

"Natsu, I love you too."

The End

 **Ok, sooooo? What did you all think? Yep! It's for sure over now! I kinda loved it, I definitely think the ending was my favorite :) It was just too cute lol, I fangirl over my own writing sometimes, ok a lot of the time. I just wanted to say thank you to all of you. You guys all lef tsuch positive reviews and I was so worried they'd all be bad. So truly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you! I'm excited to announce I will be starting a new Nalu fanfic soon so keep an eye out. Its about Lucy, locked away in a tower and shes a princess. Natsu, the dragon slayer, is hired by her father to basically keep her from getting out and anyone from getting in. Gray, the ice prince, wants to rescue and marry Lucy, going to her tower, he meets Natsu, and can ya guess what happens? :P Its basically Shrek, FairyTail version and I'm stoked to start writing it. I'll be updating Gained or Lost, soon as well so keep an eye out for it!**

 **~animebanmusic**


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